-THE SECOND- 
COMING ^CHRIST 



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JAMB S" M . CAMPBELL 





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The Second Coming 
of Christ 

A MESSAGE FOR THE TIMES 



BY 
JAMES M. CAMPBELL 




THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN 
NEW YORK CINCINNATI 






Copyright, 1919, by 
JAMES M. CAMPBELL 



The Bible text used in this volume, except that appearing in 
italics on pages 82 and 83, is taken from the American Standard 
Edition of the Revised Bible, copyright, 1901, by Thomas Nelson 
& Sons, and is used by permission. 



FEB 24 1919 
)CI.A5L1689 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Foreword 7 

' PART I 

THE NEW TESTAMENT TEACHING 

REGARDING THE SECOND 

ADVENT 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. "The Coming One" 15 

II. The First Coming of Christ, or His 

Coming in the Flesh 19 

III. The Second Coming of Christ, or the 

Great Revisitation 20 

IV. With What Event did the Second Com- 

ing of Christ Synchronize? 22 

V. When did He Come? 25 

VI. For what Ends did He Come? 27 

VII. The Second Coming of Christ in the 

Synoptical Gospels 33 

VIII. The Second Coming of Christ in the 

Apostolic Writings 45 

IX. The Second Coming of Christ in the 

Book of Revelation 56 

X. A Change of View 69 

XI. Testimony of the Fourth Gospel to 

this Change 71 

PART II 

IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

1. That Christ Having Returned, According to 
Promise, Is Now Here in All the Fullness 
of His Redeeming Power 79 

5 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

2. That the Promise of the Parousia is Fulfilled 

in Christ's Abiding Presence 81 

3. That Christ Is Personally Present, and Not 

Representatively Merely 84 

4. That Christ Is Spiritually Present, and Not 

Merely Present "in Spirit" 86 

5. That Any Future Coming of Christ to Man 

Must Be Upon the Plane which He Now 
Occupies 88 

6. That Christ Is Now Here Carrying to 

Completion the Work which He Began in 
the Days of His Flesh 91 

7. That the Saving Power of the Hidden Christ 

Is Being Increasingly Displayed 94 

8. That the Presence of the Indwelling Christ 

Is to Be Increasingly Manifested 98 

9. That the Unseen Christ Is the World's True 

King 101 

10. That the Second Coming of Christ Marks the 

Advance from the Outward to the Spiritual, 
and from the Limited to the Universal, in 
Religion 103 

11. That the Second Coming of Christ Has Given 

a New Meaning and Value to the Lord's 
Supper 106 

12. That by His Second Coming Jesus Has 

Brought to His People the Fullness of 
His Redemption 107 

13. That His Presence Is the Pledge of the Final 

Triumph of Righteousness 109 

PART III 

A CATECHISM ON THE SECOND COMING 
OF CHRIST 117 



6 



FOREWORD 

The subject of the second coming of 
Christ is at the present time being 
pushed into the forefront of the world's 
thought by the portentous events hap- 
pening on European battlefields, and by 
the equally portentous changes loom- 
ing up in the industrial, social, and po- 
litical worlds. Many in their sore per- 
plexity are raising the question whether 
the startling things now taking place 
may not presage the speedy coming of 
Christ to roll back the forces of evil, and 
to establish his kingdom. Upon that 
background of questioning the follow- 
ing pages have been written. 

The hope of the second coming of 
Christ, which the events of recent years 
have so greatly intensified, has persisted 
throughout the Christian centuries. 
Naturally enough, it took much of its 
coloring, at the first, from the religion 
7 



FOREWORD 

of Judaism, out of which Christianity 
grew. It was expected to take place 
in a visible, spectacular fashion; but in 
the course of time, as Christianity be- 
came spiritualized, it was transmuted 
into a spiritual event. The imagery in 
which it is set forth in the New Testa- 
ment was borrowed from the Jewish 
apocalyptic sources, from the later 
prophets, and especially from the book 
of Daniel, and is to be explained in 
harmony with the highly dramatic and 
symbolical character of these writings. 

It was in perfect keeping with their 
way of looking at things that the first 
Christians should expect to see the 
forces of evil destroyed, and the king- 
dom of righteousness set up by the 
brightness of the Lord's appearing. 
They doubtless kept saying, as many 
are doing to-day, "Everything will be 
set right when the Lord comes." That 
this attitude of eager expectancy and 
unshaken hope ought, in its essence at 
least, to be recaptured by the church of 

8 



FOREWORD 

to-day, goes without the saying. Those 
who expect most from Christ in the 
future honor him most, and occupy the 
surest ground. Upon his mighty arm 
we cannot lean too heavily; upon the 
certainty of his final victory we cannot 
count too confidently. What he has al- 
ready done is only a hint of what he is 
able to do. We are at the beginning 
and not at the end of his power. When 
his reserves are called up, and the great 
offensive is on, the world will wonder at 
the result. 

The desire for outward demonstra- 
tion of what is spiritual and invisible is 
a natural one. Men have always pas- 
sionately prayed to a God who seems to 
be concealing himself, "O that thou 
wouldest rend the heavens and come 
down." They have always sought out- 
ward tokens of unseen realities. We 
see this desire for a sign expressed in 
spiritism, which cries for "the touch of a 
vanished hand, and the sound of a voice 
that is still" — not being content with 
9 



FOREWORD 

the touch of a spirit-hand and the sound 
of a spirit-voice. To sense-bound souls 
the outward and tangible alone are satis- 
fying, but to a spiritually developed 
Christian the invisible is as real as the 
visible. If signs and wonders come, he 
accepts them as confirmatory of his 
faith, but he is independent of them. 
He walks by faith and not by outward 
demonstration. 

But perhaps the main cause for the 
persistence of this hope is to be traced 
to the desire to find a short cut to the 
millennium. This too is natural. The 
progress of human development is pain- 
fully slow, and we want to see things 
hurried up. In times of darkness and 
disaster such as these through which we 
are now passing the desire for the 
speedy ending of an appalling situation 
is specially strong. As a matter of 
fact, changes often come with startling 
suddenness. In human affairs progress 
is attained by revolution as well as by 
evolution, by crisis as well as by gradual 
10 



FOREWORD 

growth. Generally, the kingdom of 
heaven is like leaven, but there are times 
when it is like dynamite. Judgment has 
its place in Christ's plan of world con- 
quest. He comes in strange and unex- 
pected ways. His thoughts are not our 
thoughts, nor are his ways our ways; 
and he may take us by surprise alike as 
to the time of his coming and as to the 
manner of it. "For in an hour that ye 
think not the Son of man cometh" ; and 
in such a way as ye think not the Son 
of man cometh. The spiritual forces 
which he is now operating in the unseen 
realm are bound to become more and 
more apparent, until at length he can 
show himself in such a way that the 
whole world shall be brought to ac- 
knowledge his authority and to crown 
him Lord of all. For such a consum- 
mation we are to wait, and watch, and 
work, unceasingly. 

The only source of knowledge on the 
subject of Christ's second coming is the 
Word of God. To its pages we turn, 
11 



FOREWORD 

endeavoring to maintain a spirit of 
open-mindedness, and readiness to ac- 
cept its teachings in their plain and ob- 
vious meaning. With regard to no 
other subject is there greater need for 
dogmatic modesty, and for the exercise 
of tolerance toward those who do not see 
with us eye to eye. At the best "we 
know in part, and we prophesy in part." 
We need each other's help. Contro- 
versy is hurtful; friendly discussion is 
helpful. "Truth is a torch; the more 
'tis shook it shines." 

Into this booklet has been condensed 
the result of years of patient, prayerful 
brooding ; and the hope is cherished that 
it may prove to many bewildered souls a 
rift in the clouds revealing a shining 
pathway of hope upon which a discour- 
aged church may march to victory under 
the inspiring leadership of her living, 
present, and conquering Lord. 



12 



PART I 

THE NEW TESTAMENT 

TEACHING REGARDING 

THE SECOND ADVENT 



"I came."— John 10. 10. 

"I go away."— John 14. 28. 

"Lo, I am with you always."— Matt. 28. 20. 

"I am (He) who is to come." — Rev. 1. 8. 

"I have yet many things to say unto you, 
but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit 
when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall 
guide you into all the truth: for he shall not 
speak from himself; but what things soever he 
shall hear, these shall he speak: and he shall 
declare unto you the things that are to come." 
(John 16. 12, 13.) 



CHAPTER I 

"THE COMING ONE" 

When John the Baptist, in the 
prison, heard of the works of Jesus, he 
sent two of his disciples to him to ask: 
"Art thou he that cometh" (or, more 
literally, "the coming One"), "or look 
we for another?" (Luke 7. 19) . That is, 
"Art thou the one promised of old, the 
one for whom we have been looking, the 
one who cometh to fulfill our Messianic 
hopes?" The same question is being 
asked in another form to-day. If be- 
fore his first advent Jesus was the ob- 
ject of expectation, how much more so 
now ! Having showed, during his brief 
sojourn here, what he could do for hu- 
manity, human hope has centered on 
him more than ever. He is to us, to all, 
"the coming one," the one to whom we 
15 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

instinctively look as the bringer in of 
redemption. 

In the book of Revelation our Lord 
announces himself as the one "who was 
and who is and who is to come" (4. 8) . 
He is the Christ of the past, the Christ 
of the present, and the Christ of the 
future; the Christ who came, who is 
here, and who is yet to come, A com- 
plete vision of Christ in relation to time 
must include these three separate views. 

As the one "who was/' he is the Christ 
of history. His coming into the world 
was a definite event. He came into it as 
we all come into it, by the gate of birth. 
To those only who knew him after the 
flesh did he become a precious memory ; 
to all others he has been the central 
figure in history. They have known of 
him from the testimony of eyewitnesses, 
but that testimony has been abundantly 
substantiated by the changes which his 
coming has wrought in every depart- 
ment of the world's life. 

As the one "who is," he is the Christ 
16 



"THE COMING ONE" 

of experience. This is how we know 
him to-day. That he is here is proved 
by the fact that we have met him, and 
have had personal dealings with him. 
In the experience of his people his part- 
ing declaration, "Lo, I am with you 
always," has been abundantly verified. 
The fact of his presence is the essential 
thing in personal religion, as it is also 
the central thing in Christian faith. It 
binds into a harmonious whole the past, 
the present, and the future. The Christ 
who came, the Christ who is here, and 
the Christ who is yet to come are seen 
to be one. 

As the one "who is to come" he is the 
Christ of hope. In him the future of 
the world is bound up. Dr. David 
Smith aptly says, "History is nothing 
but a succession of his comings." With 
regard to his complete supremacy in the 
future all Christian believers are agreed. 
They may differ in their opinions as to 
how he is to fulfill the hopes which the 

sons of men have built upon his name, 
17 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

but they agree in centering their expec- 
tation upon him, and upon him alone. 
We feel sure that he is not yet through 
with us, or with the world, and that his 
possibilities are very far from being ex- 
hausted. In all his past and present 
comings we rejoice; to his future com- 
ings we look forward with glad expec- 
tancy, as the happy bride looks forward 
to the coming of the bridegroom; ex- 
claiming with hearts elate: 

"He is coming, O my spirit, with his ever- 
lasting peace; 
With his blessedness immortal and com- 
plete. 
He is coming, O my spirit, and his coming 
brings release, 
I listen for the coming of his feet." 



18 



CHAPTER II 

THE FIRST COMING OF 
CHRIST, OR HIS COMING IN 
THE FLESH 

His coming in the flesh is a clearly 
attested fact. Nothing in all history 
stands upon a firmer foundation. Al- 
though but scantily recognized by the 
great ones of the earth, it was the great- 
est event of all time — the sunrise hour 
from which the new day of hope began 
to dawn; and never will the children of 
men cease to celebrate it in song, declar- 
ing, 

"He has come, the Christ of God, 
Left for us his glad abode; 
Stooping from his throne of bliss 
To this darksome wilderness, 
He has come, the Prince of Peace; 
Come to bid our sorrows cease, 
Come to scatter with his light 
All the shadows of our night." 
19 



CHAPTER III 

THE SECOND COMING OF 
CHRIST, OR THE GREAT RE- 
VISITATION 

Paul refers to the change from the 
physical to the spiritual Christ in the 
words: "Even though we have known 
Christ after the flesh, yet now we know 
him so no more" (2 Cor. 5. 16) . There 
are many to-day who have not advanced 
to this ground. The only Christ they 
know is a Christ who is still clothed in 
the body which he wore when on earth ; 
and all their hope for the future is fixed 
upon his literal, physical return and re- 
appearing. Such a view violates the 
principle of development, empties his 
resurrection of all significance as the 
architype of ours, and gives us a Christ 
whose ascent into the life of the spirit is 
at best but half accomplished. 
20 



THE SECOND COMING 

The belief in a spiritual Christ who 
has transcended the limitations of the 
flesh, into which the first disciples were 
brought under the tuition of the Holy- 
Spirit, is one in which successive gen- 
erations have lived and died; and just in 
the measure in which it has taken hold 
of the Christian heart has that conquer- 
ing power been captured which char- 
acterized the early church. 



21 



CHAPTER IV 

WITH WHAT EVENT DID 
THE SECOND COMING OF 
CHRIST SYNCHRONIZE? 

With "the end of the world"? No, 
but with "the end of the age" What 
needless confusion of thought would 
have been avoided if our translators had 
been careful to preserve the difference 
in meaning between the Greek words 
axon and kosmos. The former means 
age, and nothing but age; the latter 
means the outward world in which we 
dwell, and nothing else ; and yet they are 
both alike rendered by the term 
"world"; their correct meaning being 
put in the margin. It was the former 
word that was used in the question of 
the disciples to the Master, "What shall 
be the sign of thy coming, and of the end 
of the world?" (Matt. 24, 3.) A literal 
22 



A QUESTION 

rendering would be, "What shall be the 
sign of thy presence and the consum- 
mation of the age?" The disciples were 
not thinking at all of the end of the 
world, but of the end of their own age, 
which was fast running to its close ; and 
they wanted to know by what signs they 
would be able to tell when its end was 
upon them. 

By not observing the difference in the 
meaning of the two words axon and kos- 
moSj many readers of the New Testa- 
ment have been unnecessarily disturbed ; 
and not a few have had their faith 
irretrievably shattered. They have rea- 
soned that if Jesus predicted the end of 
the world as near at hand, he was a false 
prophet, for this old world continues to 
spin through space. All the difficulty is 
at once cleared away when it is seen that 
what Jesus foretold was not the speedy 
and dramatic ending of the world, but 
the speedy and dramatic ending of the 
Jewish age. 

But what about the Christian age now 
23 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

current? Is it waxing old, or is it "but 
a child still in its go-cart"? Who can 
tell? Because of the uncertainty of the 
future, needful as ever is the admoni- 
tion: "Watch therefore; for ye know 
not on what day your Lord cometh" 
(Matt. 24. 42). For although these 
words of warning had reference to a 
specific event, they are susceptible of a 
wider application, and have their les- 
son to us to-day. Because of the uncer- 
tainty of the future, we should always, 
as Saint Jerome reminds us, be standing 
with our lamps alit listening for the 
midnight cry, "Behold, the bridegroom 
cometh; go ye out to meet him." 



24 



CHAPTER V 
WHEN DID HE COME? 

This is a difficult question to an- 
swer categorically, for the reason that 
his coming was both spiritual and 
epochal. As a spiritual event it was not 
verifiable by the senses; as an epochal 
event it was like the gradual emergence 
of the sun from a cloud-bank by which 
its presence had been temporarily 
eclipsed. Yet it had its focal point, and 
that point was Pentecost. Hence we 
are abundantly justified in saying that 
Christ came at Pentecost, inasmuch as 
his coming was then outwardly ex- 
pressed and confirmed; and for the 
further reason that after Pentecost the 
disciples came to experience a conscious- 
ness of his presence which they never 
afterwards altogether lost. 

But, be it carefully noted that the 
25 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

second coming of Christ while coinci- 
dent with the coming of the Holy Spirit 
was not identical with it. Much con- 
fusion of thought has arisen from not 
distinguishing between them. The 
Holy Spirit is not a substitute for 
Christ, but is the agent by whom he is 
made real in human experience. 

Nothing must be allowed to becloud 
or weaken the fact that it is Christ him- 
self, the same Christ whom the disciples 
knew, the same Christ who vanished 
from sight, who has returned, and is 
ever with us. 



26 



CHAPTER VI 

FOR WHAT ENDS DID HE 
COME? 

1. He Came for Judgment 

He is described as coming "in flaming 
fire, rendering vengeance to them that 
know not God, and to them that obey- 
not the gospel" (2 Thess. 1. 7, 8) . His 
judgments were to culminate in a great 
event which is spoken of as "that great 
and terrible day of the Lord." In 
Christ's day that judgment is within a 
lifetime or generation ; in the Epistles it 
is at hand ; in the Apocalypse it is come ; 
or, rather, it is "about to come" — the 
storm-cloud being represented as rolling 
up, and about to break in a deluge of 
doom. Its breaking is a matter of 
history. 

But the judgment at the end of the 

rt 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

Jewish age did not exhaust Christ's 
judgment- work. Another and greater 
judgment is to take place at the end of 
the Christian age — the age in which we 
are now living; when the judgment 
process now going on shall culminate in 
a crisis, and the life of man and of the 
world alike shall end in a harvest time 
in which the fruitage of all past sowing 
shall be ingathered. 

Regarding that final judgment it is 
said that God "hath appointed a day in 
which he will judge the world in right- 
eousness by the man whom he hath or- 
dained ; whereof he hath given assurance 
unto all men, in that he hath raised him 
from the dead" (Acts 17. 31). "We 
must all be made manifest before the 
judgment-seat of Christ; that each one 
may receive the things done in the body, 
according to what he hath done, whether 
it be good or bad" ( 2 Cor. 5.10). "It is 
appointed unto men once to die, and 
after this cometh judgment" (Heb. 9. 
27) . "And I saw a great white throne, 
28 



FOR WHAT ENDS DID HE COME? 

and him that sat upon it, from whose 
face the earth and the heaven fled away ; 
and there was no place for them. And I 
saw the dead, the great and the small, 
standing before the throne; and the 
books were opened: and another book 
was opened, which is the booh of life: 
and the dead were judged out of the 
things which were written in the books, 
according to their works" (Rev. 20. 
11,12). To this wider vision of Christ's 
work of judgment the thought of the 
early Christians naturally turned as the 
judgment connected with his second 
coming receded into the past ; and upon 
it the whole race of man has come to fix 
its. forward gaze. 

The judgment of Christ is not, how- 
ever, to be pushed entirely into the 
future. "Now is the judgment of this 
world," and its judgment is being car- 
ried on by Christ. He is now "sifting 
out the souls of men before his judg- 
ment-seat." His standard of ethics is 
being accepted by men and nations as 
29 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

the supreme test of conduct. From his 
judgment there is no escape, and from 
his verdict there is no appeal. When 
his judgment falls, the longest arrears 
have to be paid up. It was this reflec- 
tion that led Abraham Lincoln to say, 
in his second inaugural address: 
"Fondly do we hope — fervently do we 
pray — that the mighty scourge of war 
may speedily pass away. Yet if God 
wills that it continues until the wealth 
piled up by the bondsmen's two hundred 
and fifty years of unrequited toil shall 
be sunk, and until every drop of blood 
drawn with the lash shall be paid by an- 
other drawn by the sword, as was said 
three thousand years ago, so still must it 
be said, 'The judgments of the Lord 
are true and righteous altogether.' ■ 
Sooner or later every man and every na- 
tion has Christ to settle with. 

2. He Came for Salvation 

The only instance in the New Testa- 
ment in which the return of Christ is 
30 



FOR WHAT ENDS DID HE COME? 

spoken of as a second coming is in 
Hebrews 9. 28, and nowhere else is the 
nature and end of that event more 
clearly defined. The text runs thus: 
"Christ also, having been once offered 
to bear the sins of many, shall appear 
a second time, apart from sin, . . . 
unto salvation." The second coming as 
here set forth is ( 1 ) "Apart from sin/' 
At his first coming Jesus came "with 
sin on him not in him." (So Alford.) 
He was hailed as "the Lamb of God 
who taketh away the sin of the world." 
At his second coming he was no longer 
the world's sin-bearer; for having put 
away sin by the sacrifice of himself he 
became, in a true sense, separated from 
it forever. 

(2) It is "unto salvation" The Sin- 
bearer has become the Saviour. His 
saving power is now in exercise ; his sav- 
ing work is now going on. The work of 
salvation, for which the ground was laid 
during the first advent, is now being 
brought to realization in the lives of 
31 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

men. Having "offered one sacrifice for 
sins for ever/' he is now seated "on the 
right hand of God; henceforth expect- 
ing till his enemies be made the footstool 
of his feet" (Heb. 10. 12, 13)— his ex- 
pectation of complete dominion being 
based upon his confidence in the efficacy 
of his atoning sacrifice, and the faith- 
fulness of his people in using it, as the 
weapon of world conquest. 

(3) It is something realized by "those 
who wait for him/' To those who are 
longing to find him and "love his ap- 
pearing" he ever reveals himself. He 
comes to them, not in the clouds de- 
scending, but in the impact of his spirit- 
ual presence. And whenever he comes, 
whether it be to a waiting world, to a 
waiting church, or to a waiting soul, he 
comes as the bringer of salvation. His 
coming is like the coming of a lifeboat 
to shipwrecked mariners. When seek- 
ing souls and a seeking Saviour meet, 
wonderful things happen. 



32 



CHAPTER VII 

THE SECOND COMING OF 
CHRIST IN THE SYNOP- 
TICAL GOSPELS 

The first three Gospels are called the 
"synoptical" Gospels, because, as the 
word indicates, their writers "see to- 
gether," and are in substantial agree- 
ment. The Fourth Gospel occupies a 
different standpoint, and is in a class by 
itself. These three Gospels report the 
eschatological discourses of Jesus, and 
were evidently written before the over- 
throw of Jerusalem. In them Jesus 
"becomes his own prophet," and tells of 
the fast approaching judgments by 
which his spiritual kingdom was to be 
ushered in. Malachi, whose book closes 
the Old Testament canon, utters the 
prophecy, "The Lord, whom ye seek, 
will suddenly come to his temple" (3. 
33 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

1). John the Baptist inaugurates the 
new dispensation with the clarion call, 
"Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven 
is at hand" (Matt. 3. 1). Jesus begins 
his ministry by "preaching the gospel of 
the kingdom" (Matt. 4. 23) ; and by 
sending forth his apostles to reecho the 
words of John (Matt. 10. 7), giving 
them the assurance, "Ye shall not have 
gone through the cities of Israel, till the 
Son of man be come" (Matt. 10. 23). 
Nothing could be clearer than that he 
regarded the coming of his kingdom as 
imminent. 

One of the saddest things in all his- 
tory was the failure of God's ancient 
people to recognize their Messiah when 
he came. "He came unto his own, and 
they that were his own received him 
not." He walked their streets, he 
taught in their synagogues, he healed 
their sick, he wore out his life on their 
behalf, but he failed to win their homage. 
As their Messiah and King they 
definitely rejected him. Because of this 
34 



IN THE SYNOPTICAL GOSPELS 

suicidal act, desolating judgments were 
to fall upon them, which are compared 
to siderial disturbances in which "the 
sun shall be darkened, and the moon 
shall not give her light, the stars shall 
fall from heaven, and the powers of the 
heavens shall be shaken" (Matt. 24. 
29). To those familiar with Jewish 
apocalyptic literature these highly col- 
ored metaphors present no difficulty. 

A striking example of their use is 
found in the words: "Behold, the sun 
and moon and eleven stars made 
obeisance to me" (Gen. 37. 9), in which 
Joseph described his dream. Who is 
f oolish enough to suppose that the heav- 
enly bodies literally bowed down to him? 
Good old Jacob knew better; and re- 
plied: "Shall I and thy mother and thy 
brethren indeed come to bow down our- 
selves to thee ?" Compare with Joseph's 
words those of Jesus, "Immediately 
after the tribulation of those days the 
sun shall be darkened, and the moon 
shall not give her light, and the stars 
35 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

shall fall from heaven, and the powers 
of the heavens shall be shaken: and then 
shall appear the sign of the Son of man 
in heaven" (Matt. 24. 29, 30), and 
there is no difficulty whatever in ap- 
plying them to the destruction of 
Jerusalem. They belong to the lan- 
guage of poetical symbolism, and are to 
be interpreted in the common-sense way 
in which Jacob interpreted the words of 
his precocious son. They are without 
doubt descriptive of the violent social, 
political, and religious changes which 
were to take place when Christ returned 
for judgment. 

At the first Jesus dealt in veiled allu- 
sions, but in the parable of the wicked 
husbandmen, which is reported by all 
the synoptists, he directly charges the 
Jewish people with infidelity to their 
high trust, and declares, "Therefore 
say I unto you, The kingdom of God 
shall be taken away from you, and shall 
be given to a nation bringing forth the 
fruits thereof (Matt. 21. 43). 
36 



IN THE SYNOPTICAL GOSPELS 

As the great catastrophe approached, 
his descriptions of the dire calamities 
about to overtake them became more 
and more definite ; and when at last the 
die was cast and the storm was about to 
break, he uttered the pathetic lamenta- 
tion: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that 
killeth the prophets, and stoneth them 
that are sent unto her ! how often would 
I have gathered thy children together 
even as a hen gathereth her chickens 
under her wings, and ye would not ! Be- 
hold, your house is left unto you deso- 
late. For I say unto you, Ye shall not 
see me henceforth till ye shall say, 
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of 
the Lord" (Matt. 23. 37-39). That 
these judgments were to happen not in 
the distant future but in the immediate 
present is put beyond all questioning 
by the declaration, "Verily I say unto 
you, all these things shall come upon this 
generation" (Matt. 23. 36). But what 
has been sometimes overlooked is the 
fact that connected with these judg- 
37 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

merits was the blessed hope of the 
Lord's immediate return. 

In the parable which follows, Jesus 
makes the light of hope to shine on the 
background of judgment. "Behold," he 
says, "the fig tree, and all the trees: 
when they now shoot forth, ye see it and 
know of your own selves that the 
summer is now nigh. Even so ye also, 
when ye see these things coming to pass, 
know ye that the kingdom of God is 
nigh'' (Luke 21. 29-31). 

The Gospel of Matthew closes with 
a triad of parables in which the eschato- 
logical teaching of Jesus is summed up. 
The parable of the ten virgins sharpens 
its teachings to a single point, and coun- 
sels the followers of Christ that in the 
time of agonizing suspense before them 
— a time that might be called the mid- 
night of the church — they would need to 
curb their impatience, and practice 
watchful waiting. The application of 
the parable is: "Watch therefore, for ye 
know not the day nor the hour" (Matt. 
38 



IN THE SYNOPTICAL GOSPELS 

25. 13). Again and again is the warn- 
ing in substance repeated, "Be ye also 
ready ; for in an hour that ye think not 
the Son of man cometh" (Matt. 24. 44) . 
To apply these words to death, as is 
generally done, is to wrest them from 
their original purpose, which was to set 
forth the need of constant preparedness 
in view of the uncertainty touching the 
exact moment of Christ's return. 

The parable of the talents evidently 
refers to the Jewish people, God's "own 
servants," to whom were committed the 
oracles of God, and to whom were given 
great privileges to which were attached 
great responsibilities. The ground of 
their condemnation is their unfaithful- 
ness to their national trust. 

When we come to the parable of the 
sheep and the goats, with which the 
eschatological discourse of Jesus ends, 
the transition from the particular to the 
general, and from the temporal to the 
eternal becomes so marked that many 
regard it as "barren of any particular 
39 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

notes of time or place." But that is go- 
ing too far. It is undoubtedly con- 
nected with what was to take place at 
the parousia, but regards the judgment 
work of Christ as one and continuous, 
and points out the principle upon which 
it is conducted in every age and in every 
world. 

Christ is represented as judging "the 
nations" ; that is, the Gentiles as distin- 
guished from the Jews ; and as separat- 
ing them, upon the ground of the pos- 
session or absence of a divinely human 
love expressed in deeds of merciful 
kindness, as a shepherd divideth his 
sheep from the goats. That judgment, 
begun at the second advent, is now go- 
ing on; and, wonderful to tell, every- 
where is Christ's criterion of character 
being accepted as supreme, his judg- 
ment as final, and its issues as eternal. 

A General Survey 

From a general survey of the syn- 
optical Gospels we learn: 
40 



IN THE SYNOPTICAL GOSPELS 

1. That Jesus spoke of his second 
coming as near. He clearly intimated 
that it was to take place during the life- 
time of some of those who were listen- 
ing to him. "Verily I say unto you, 
There are some of them that stand here, 
who shall in no wise taste of death, till 
they see the Son of man coming in his 
kingdom" (Matt. 16. 28) . To the same 
effect are his words: "Verily I say unto 
you, This generation shall not pass 
away till all these things, be accom- 
plished" (Matt. 24. 34) . It is not pos- 
sible for language to be more explicit. 
Yet, strange to say, these plain and 
unequivocal statements have been 
stretched so as to cover a period of time 
to be measured by centuries. To such 
straits have many allowed themselves to 
be brought by refusing to accept the 
obvious inference that the second com- 
ing of Christ is a thing of the past rather 
than of the future. 

2. That Jesus identified his coming 
with the coming of his kingdom. His 

41 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

coming was to be both personal and 
dispensational — something to be estab- 
lished within the soul, and something to 
be embodied in the world's institutions. 
Having received for himself a kingdom 
— whose scepter is the cross — he was to 
return and set it up in the hearts of men, 
and in the heart of the world's life. 
Concerned at first with personal con- 
duct, his kingdom was to widen out so as 
to include every phase of man's complex 
social life and every part of the world- 
order. 

3. That the second coming of Christ 
was to be accompanied with certain vis- 
ible signs. When Jesus told his dis- 
ciples that they were to see the Son of 
man coming in his kingdom, they at 
once asked him, "What shall be the sign 
of thy presence, and of the end of the 
age?" (Matt. 24. 3, marginal read- 
ing.) His answer, in substance, was 
that the sign of his coming was to be 
found in the destruction of Jerusalem. 
Upon the principle that a sign is some- 
42 



IN THE SYNOPTICAL GOSPELS 

thing outward and visible, whereas the 
thing signified is something inward and 
spiritual, the destruction of Jerusalem 
was to be the outward sign of a spir- 
itual event. In mighty convulsions 
which are compared to the eclipse 
of the sun, the blotting out of the moon, 
and the falling of the stars from heaven, 
that great city, which was at once the re- 
ligious and political center of the Jewish 
nation, was to be razed to the ground, 
and upon its ruins was to be built up the 
larger city of a new humanity, ruled and 
controlled by the Spirit of Christ. 

The passing of the old and the effete 
is always necessary to the coming in of 
the new. That is the deeper significance 
of much of the fearful destruction which 
has taken place in the war-cursed coun- 
tries of Europe. Thrones and dy- 
nasties have been swept away; institu- 
tions hoary with antiquity have been 
ground to powder; monuments of a 
past, whose glory had faded, have been 
battered into heaps of ruins. Outward 
43 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

things have perished that the things of 
spiritual value might take their place. 
At such a fearful price is progress 
won. 



44 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE SECOND COMING OF 
CHRIST IN THE APOSTOLIC 
WRITINGS 

"The Acts of the Apostles" 

Luke, the beloved physician, begins 
his history of the early church — "The 
Acts of the Apostles" — by describing 
the ascension of Jesus. He tells how a 
cloud received him out of the sight of his 
wondering disciples. He tells likewise 
of two men who stood by them in shin- 
ing apparel, who said, "Ye men of 
Galilee, why stand ye looking into 
heaven? This Jesus, who was received 
up from you into heaven, shall so 
come in like manner as ye behold him 
going into heaven" (Acts 1. 10, 11). 
This text is generally supposed to close 
the case in behalf of a physical and vis- 
45 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

ible second coming of Christ, but what it 
really teaches is the unbroken identity 
of Christ. The same Jesus who went 
up out of the earth-life was to come back 
again unchanged in all the essential 
elements of his nature. 

A very unnecessary difficulty has 
been introduced by translating the 
Greek phrase hon tropon, "in like 
manner." What it really denotes is not 
mode but certainty; and that is unques- 
tionably its meaning in every other in- 
stance in which it is used in the New 
Testament. There are in all six other 
instances in which the expression hon 
tropon is used in the New Testament, 
namely, Matt. 23. 37 ; Acts 7. 28 ; 2 Tim. 
3. 8; Acts 15. 11; Jude v. 7; Acts 27. 
25, and in none of them can it possibly 
be construed in a modal sense. As an 
example of the whole, take the Saviour's 
words in Matt. 23. 37: "How often 
would I have gathered thy children to- 
gether even as a hen gathereth her chick- 
ens under her wings." Does anyone for 
46 



IN THE APOSTOLIC WRITINGS 

a moment suppose that those words 
indicate the outward form in which our 
Lord was to gather spiritual wanderers 
to himself? Bearing in mind the uni- 
versally conceded principle of interpre- 
tation, that no rendering of any partic- 
ular word or phrase is to be accepted 
unless it applies equally to every in- 
stance in which it is found, a candid and 
unbiased study of all the texts in which 
hon tropon occurs can hardly fail to 
show conclusively that it refers not to 
the manner of Christ's coming or going, 
but to the certainty that he would re- 
turn essentially unchanged from what 
he was before his ascension. Dr. Milton 
S. Terry catches the writer's thought 
when' he remarks, "The angels did not 
even say to those who saw Jesus ascend 
that they should behold his return, but 
they simply assured them that as surely 
as Jesus had gone into heaven, even so 
should he come again from heaven." 
The same Jesus, their unchanging Lord 
and Saviour, was to return as surely as 
47 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

he had gone up; and in his perpetual 
presence they were perpetually to re- 
joice. 1 

A discussion of this classical text 
raises the whole question as to how 
Christ was to come. That the early 
Christians expected him to come in a 
visible and spectacular way, and to come 
soon, there cannot be the slightest doubt. 
But when it is maintained that the 
phrase hon tropon indicates the mode 
of his return, the insuperable objection 
confronts us that their expectation was 
not so fulfilled. Nor after the lapse of 
centuries has the anticipated event 
taken place. None of the apostolic 
group that saw Jesus go up witnessed 
his visible return. One by one they died 
without the sight. And one of the most 
pathetic chapters in church history con- 
sists of the records of oft -repeated at- 
tempts to fix a date for the belated 
event. Evidently, there has been some 

1 For fuller discussion of this point see author's book 
entitled The Presence, pp. 109-113. 
48 



IN THE APOSTOLIC WRITINGS 

serious mistake somewhere regarding 
what was promised, to account for that 
long succession of blighted hopes. 

The Epistles 

When we come to the Epistles of 
Paul, Peter, James, and John, and to 
the other writings produced within the 
circle of apostolic influence, we find the 
general outlook upon this subject iden- 
tical with that found in the Gospels. 

1. The attitude of all the apostolic 
writers was that of eager, confident ex- 
pectancy. That the Master they had 
loved and lost was to return to judge 
the world, wind up its affairs, and take 
his ransomed home, they never for a 
moment doubted. That they believed 
his coming would be speedy and sudden, 
utterances like the following clearly 
testify: "The day of the Lord so Com- 
eth as a thief in the night" (1 Thess. 
5.1). "This I say, brethren, the time is 
shortened henceforth" (1 Cor. 7. 29, 
margin) . "The night is far spent, and 
49 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

the day is at hand" (Rom. 6. 13: 12). 
"Exhorting one another; and so much 
the more, as ye see the day drawing 
nigh" (Heb. 10. 25). 

"For yet a very little while, 
He that cometh shall come, and shall not 
tarry." (Heb. 10. 37.) 

"The coming of the Lord is at hand" 
(James 5. 8). "Behold, the judge 
standeth before the door" (James 5. 9) . 
"The end of all things is at hand: be ye 
therefore of sound mind, and be sober 
unto prayer" (1 Pet. 4. 7). "Little 
children, it is the last hour" (1 John 2. 
18) . And when at the close of the book 
of Revelation the risen Christ exclaims, 
"Yea: I come quickly," his waiting 
church responds, "Amen; come, Lord 
Jesus" (Rev. 22. 20). 

On this point, Dr. James Denney, 
one of the most conservative and care- 
ful Christian scholars, has these weighty 
words: "There can be no question that 
the primitive church generally cherished 
50 



IN THE APOSTOLIC WRITINGS 

a fervent hope of the speedy return of 
Jesus, in the clouds of heaven. There 
can be just as little question that it sup- 
ported that hope by appealing to the 
words of Jesus himself. Further, there 
can be no question that the hope, in the 
form in which it was cherished, proved 
fallacious. It was not fulfilled." Nor 
after the lapse of well-nigh two mil- 
lenniums has any such event taken 
place. To say that for that reason it 
must now be drawing near is to juggle 
with words ; for, as Archbishop Trench 
has pointed out, it cannot be that Jesus 
desired each succeeding generation to 
believe that he would certainly return in 
their day, as that would imply "that the 
faith and practice of all generations ex- 
cept the last would be founded upon a 
misapprehension." 

Regarding the time of his coming 
they could not possibly have been mis- 
taken; for, although its exact date was 
unknown, its nearness was announced in 
language clear as a sunbeam. The only 
51 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

conclusion, therefore, to which we can 
come is that he actually returned ac- 
cording to promise, but in "another 
form" from that in which they were ex- 
pecting him; that, in other words, he 
came not in outward bodily form, but in 
his spiritual presence, in which form he 
is now with us. 

2. The coming of Christ was looked 
upon as an event of transcendent glory. 
Jesus himself had promised that he 
would come "in his own glory," and "in 
the glory of the Father." Taking his 
words literally, his disciples looked for 
some unwonted display of outward 
glory which would confound his en- 
emies and comfort his people. In the 
darkening days of tribulation preceding 
the second advent, Peter admonished 
his fellow Christians thus: "Beloved, 
think it not strange concerning the fiery 
trial among you, which cometh upon 
you to prove you, as though a strange 
thing happened- unto you: but inso- 
much as ye are partakers of Christ's 
52 



IN THE APOSTOLIC WRITINGS 

sufferings, rejoice ; that at the revelation 
of his glory also ye may rejoice with ex- 
ceeding joy" (1 Pet. 4. 12). He also 
speaks of himself as "a witness of the 
sufferings of Christ" and "a partaker of 
the glory that shall be revealed" (1 Pet. 
5. 1). Again, addressing his fellow 
Christians, he says, "Now for a little 
while, if need be, ye have been put to 
grief in manifold trials, that the proof of 
your faith, being more precious than 
gold that perisheth, though it is proved 
by fire, may be found unto praise and 
glory and honor at the revelation [or un- 
veiling] of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 1. 6). 
Paul counsels Timothy to "keep the 
commandment, without spot, without 
reproach, until the appearing [literally, 
"the epiphany"] of our Lord Jesus 
Christ" (1 Tim. 6. 14). Likewise he 
exhorts Titus to keep "looking for the 
blessed hope and appearing [literally, 
"the outbreaking," or "outbur sting"] of 
the glory of the great God and Saviour 
Jesus Christ" (Titus 2. 13). 
53 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

It is clear that what they looked for 
and longed for was some sudden out- 
flashing of the glory of Christ, which 
would be overwhelming in its effect. 
But nothing of the kind ever came. In- 
stead they received something infinitely 
better — a vision of Christ's glory that 
appealed not to the senses, but to the 
soul; such a vision as may be ours to- 
day. 

In the dark days through which we 
are now passing we have the same 
reason to rejoice with exceeding joy in 
the certainty of the revelation of the 
glory of Christ that is coming: a glory 
which is to be more and more manifested 
as the centuries roll by ; a glory which is 
to break forth at the end of this age in 
unimagined splendor; a glory in which 
this earth is to be transfigured ; a glory 
which is to be consummated in the heav- 
enly realm. But let us beware of falling 
into the mistake of the first Christians 
in expecting his glory to shine forth in 
outward spectacular ways rather than in 
54 



IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION 

the supremacy of spiritual forces con- 
trolled by him for the vanquishment of 
evil, and for the building up of the king- 
dom of righteousness. 



55 



CHAPTER IX 

THE SECOND COMING OF 
CHRIST IN THE BOOK OF 
REVELATION 

That the book of Revelation is 
prophetic in its character is a claim 
which the writer himself makes when he 
speaks of "the words of the prophecy of 
this book" (22. 18). It is an unveil- 
ing of the unseen, an opening of the 
seven-sealed mysteries of the future. 
Fortunately, we are not required to 
draw upon our imagination for an inter- 
pretation of this wonderful book. The 
key that unlocks its treasures hangs on 
the door. That key is found in the 
opening words — "The Revelation of 
Jesus Christ, which God gave him to 
show unto his servants, even the things 
which must shortly come to pass." In 
these words the book explains itself. 
56 



IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION 

1. It is a revelation given by God, 
through the glorified Christ, to his ser- 
vant John. Things were unveiled to 
John of the eagle eye, which from others 
were hidden. On a certain, never-to-be- 
forgotten Lord's Day, when "in the 
spirit," that is, when in a state of spirit- 
ual ecstasy, there came to him a sudden 
and startling vision of eternal things, 
by which he was carried along from one 
scene to another until its message was 
completed. To the soul of this solitary 
exile were revealed things which the out- 
ward eye sees not and the outward ear 
hears not. The future was disclosed to 
him; and what is still more important, 
heaven was opened, and its close con- 
nection with this lower world, and the 
availability of its illimitable resources 
for Christ's persecuted people made 
known. 

2. It is a revelation given through 
John to certain churches. When the 
spirit came upon him, he says, "I heard 
behind me a great voice, as of a 

57 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

trumpet saying, What thou seest, write 
in a book and send it to the seven 
churches" (Rev. 1. 10, 11). His mes- 
sage had, in the first instance, a local 
application, as all prophetic messages 
have. It was to be given to the seven 
churches in Asia Minor, which he names. 
These churches were selected not be- 
cause of their importance, but because 
of John's intimate connection with 
them as their presiding bishop ; perhaps 
also because of their representative 
character. But the message, although 
limited at first in its application, has 
in it universal elements, and is for 
all who can receive it. A suggestion 
of this wider application is found in 
the refrain, "He that hath an ear, let 
him hear what the Spirit saith to the 
churches. " 

3. It is a revelation of the kingly 
power and glory of the risen, living, and 
exalted Christ. It is difficult to under- 
stand the position of Luther, who called 
the book of Revelation "a dumb proph- 
58 



IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION 

ecy," and said that Christ could neither 
be learned nor recognized in it. Christ 
is its central figure ; but no longer is he 
the Man of Sorrows, despised and re- 
jected of men; he has become the Judge, 
the Avenger, the Mighty Conqueror. 
He is seen "coming in his kingdom." 
On his head are many crowns. Once he 
had been scornfully rejected by the peo- 
ple, who shouted, "The Crucified! May 
his name and memory be blotted out." 
Now everything is changed, and he is 
looked upon as one who possesses in- 
vincible power. Not satisfied with act- 
ing upon the defensive, he takes the of- 
fensive, coming forth "conquering and 
to conquer" (Rev. 6. 2). We hear the 
trumpet sounding to battle as he puts 
himself at the head of the hosts of right- 
eousness, riding upon a white horse ; we 
see opposing forces scattered before him 
like chaff on the summer threshing 
floor; we see his enemies bowing their 
necks to his authority ; we see his kingly 
reign everywhere acknowledged. 
59 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

4. It is a revelation of things about to 
come to pass. It was never meant to 
give a panoramic view of a long course 
of events extending through many cen- 
turies—a history of the church written 
in advance. The idea of the imminence 
of the events which it portrays is de- 
clared again and again. They are 
" things which must shortly come to 
pass" (1. 1) ; or, more literally, "things 
which are about to come to pass"; 
* 'things which are, and the things which 
shall come to pass hereafter" (1. 19) ; 
that is, things which are to come to pass 
in the immediate future. John is told 
that he is not to seal up "the words of 
the prophecy of this book ; for the time is 
at hand" (22. 10) ; that is, the time of 
fulfillment. To take these expressions 
and stretch them over a long and in- 
definite period of time is simply to 
juggle with words. It is to make of 
Scripture a nose of wax which may be 
twisted into any shape. The terms 
"shortly," "quickly," "at hand" mean 
60 



IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION 

within a brief period, and they can mean 
nothing else. 

5. It is a revelation of the things about 
to come to pass in connection with the 
coming of Christ. The return, or 
second coming of Christ, in which all the 
hope of the early church was bound up, 
was looked upon as near. 

In the Epistles of Paul to the Thes- 
salonians, which were probably the first 
New Testament documents ever writ- 
ten, it is described as at hand; in the 
synoptical Gospels it is stated that it 
will surely happen within the life of 
some of those then living ; in the book of 
Revelation the time of that great event 
has arrived. The heavens are about to 
open, and the Lord is about to descend 
to judge the world, and to establish his 
Messianic kingdom. This is the funda- 
mental thought in the book ; namely, the 
personal and speedy return of the con- 
quering Christ. 

The question to be faced is, Did 
Christ keep his promise? Did he de- 
61 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

scend in mighty power as he had prom- 
ised, and as his people expected him to 
do? How can we doubt it? 

6. It is a revelation of the speedy com- 
ing of Christ for the deliverance of his 
people. To understand this book we 
must consider its historical background. 
It was written at a time of peculiar dis- 
tress; a time of fearful portents in the 
physical world; a time of earthquakes 
and pestilences; a time of wars and 
rumors of wars ; a time of political con- 
vulsions; a time of the bitterest and 
crudest persecution, From the time of 
the burning of Rome by Nero in A. D. 
64, the Christian became the object of 
the most fiendish malignity. The em- 
peror, in order to divert the minds of the 
people from himself as the perpetrator 
of that crime, fastened it upon the 
despised followers of Jesus. The ha- 
tred of the Roman people toward them 
knew no bounds. They were subjected 
to every torture which satanic ingenuity 
could devise. There seemed to be no 
62 



IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION 

possible end to their sufferings, except 
in extermination. Anything might 
happen; they lived in constant alarm; 
never knowing by what new danger they 
were to be confronted. The general 
condition of things is well described in 
the words, "The sun became black as 
sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon 
became as blood; and the stars of the 
heaven fell unto the earth, as a fig tree 
casteth her unripe figs when she is 
shaken of a great wind" (Rev. 6. 12, 
13). Everything was shaken from its 
place; and the very foundations of the 
world's order seemed to be destroyed. 

It was at such a time, when the hearts 
of men were failing them for fear, that 
the vision of the coming of the kingly 
Christ was given to comfort his afflicted 
and discouraged people. Their danger 
of apostatizing was great. Would they 
hold out? In view of the prevailing dis- 
tress Jesus himself had asked, "When 
the Son of man cometh, shall he find 
faith on the earth?" (Luke 18. 18). 
63 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

They were encouraged to "hold the 
fort" because reenforcements were on 
the way, and victory was nigh. 

8. It is a revelation of the fulfillment 
of Jewish Messianic hope. The reign of 
righteousness and peace which in the 
Old Testament is ascribed to the Mes- 
siah, is here transferred to Christ. And 
as this great Christian drama draws to a 
close that kingdom of dreams is seen to 
be coming with increasing momentum. 
The two great powers that stood in its 
way, Judaism and pagan Rome, are 
judged and overthrown; and the New 
Jerusalem, the ideal city of God, is seen 
coming down to earth out of heaven. 
Coincident with this, great events are 
happening in the unseen realm. The 
saints who had fallen asleep before the 
parousia are raised up, and reign with 
Christ in glory. They cannot "die any 
more : for they are equal to the angels ; 
and are sons of God, being sons of the 
resurrection" (Luke 20. 36). Those 
who come after them, as they pass out of 
64 



IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION 

the earth-life are raised up with them 
one by one, "every one in his own order." 
For them there is no weary waiting in a 
gloomy underworld. Instant death is 
instant glory. To be absent from the 
body is to be present with the Lord. 
"And they shall reign with him for ever 
and ever." 

Peculiar honor is paid those who in 
"the great tribulation" were faithful 
unto death. This was in accordance 
with the promise given, "Ye are they 
that have continued with me in my 
temptations ; and I appoint unto you a 
kingdom, even as my Father appointed 
unto me, that ye may eat and drink at 
my table in my kingdom; and ye shall 
sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes 
of Israel" (Luke 22. 28-30). It is to 
this class that John refers when he says, 
"I saw thrones, and they that sat upon 
them, . . . and I saw the souls of 
them that had been beheaded for the 
testimony of Jesus, and of the word of 
God, and such as worshiped not the 
65 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

beast, neither his image, and received 
not the mark upon their forehead . . . ; 
and they lived, and reigned with Christ 
a thousand years. The rest of the dead 
lived not until the thousand years should 
be finished. This is the first resurrec- 
tion. Blessed and holy is he that hath 
part in the first resurrection : over these 
the second death hath no power; but 
they shall be priests of God and of 
Christ, and shall reign with him a thou- 
sand years" (Rev. 20. 4-6). The key 
to this perplexing passage is the word 
"souls." What John beheld was the 
souls of the martyred dead crowned with 
glory, honor, and immortality. They 
sat upon thrones, and judgment was 
given unto them. The period during 
which they shared the glory of Christ's 
advancing kingdom is said to be a thou- 
sand years. By this we are not to 
understand an exact measure of time. 
The expression is borrowed from rab- 
binical literature, and denotes a long 
and indefinite period, and is to be inter- 
66 



IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION 

preted in the light of such words as "a 
thousand years are with the Lord as one 
day, and one day as a thousand years." 
The prophecy was of a long period of 
growing power. But the triumph of 
Christ's kingdom was not to be un- 
broken. At the close of the millennium 
Satan is released from the bottomless 
pit, and makes a final assault upon the 
saints, when the fire of God consumes 
his army, and he is cast into the lake of 
fire and brimstone. Then comes the 
general resurrection, and a great white 
throne, upon which is seated One from 
whose face heaven and earth flee away. 
The dead, small and great, stand before 
the throne and are " judged every man 
according to their works." 

The ultimate goal, however, is not the 
New Jerusalem, but the heavenly Jeru- 
salem, where we are to look for the full 
recompense of reward, and for the ful- 
fillment of those hopes which are never 
brought to full fruition here ; and in that 
transcendent vision "the roaring of the 
67 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

thunder dies away in litanies and 
psalms." 

"The book opened with the promise 
to reveal things which must quickly 
come to pass, and it goes out in the as- 
surance that he, of whose coming all 
things are the prelude, is nigh at hand, 
even at the door" (C. Anderson Scott, 
in the New Century Bible) . 



68 



CHAPTER X 

A CHANGE OF VIEW 

It is a significant fact that the early 
disciples gradually came to change their 
view touching the nature of Christ's 
second advent. Paul in his letter to the 
Thessalonians speaks of it as imminent 
and outward, whereas in his later epis- 
tles he speaks of it as inward and 
actual. Instead of expecting to be 
caught up to meet the Lord in the air, 
he sought to meet him in his soul. He 
found himself in "a strait betwixt two, 
having the desire to depart and be with 
Christ" (Phil. 1. 23), which was far 
better than continuing the fight; for 
while at home in the body he was absent 
from the Lord; and to be with the 
Lord was the essence of his early ad- 
vent hope. That hope he never sur- 
rendered; but simply transferred its 
69 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

consummation to the other world — just 
as we do — expecting at death instantly 
to pass from the veiled to the unveiled 
presence of his Lord. This change of 
attitude can be accounted for on no 
other ground than that the disciples cor- 
rected their early mistake; but instead 
of the change shattering their faith in 
Jesus it put it upon a firmer footing. 
Never did they feel so sure of him as 
when they knew him after the spirit, as 
their unseen but ever-present Compan- 
ion and Friend. 

Very naturally, the tense waiting 
which had continued with the disciples 
until Pentecost, then came to an end. 
Confident that the Lord was with them, 
what they henceforth longed for and 
prayed for was a clearer manifestation 
of his presence. 



70 



CHAPTER XI 

TESTIMONY OF THE FOURTH 
GOSPEL TO THIS CHANGE 

When we turn to the Fourth Gospel 
we find ourselves in a new atmosphere. 
Its conception of the second advent is 
completely changed, not only from that 
found in the book of Revelation but also 
from that found in the first three Gos- 
pels ; for whereas in the first three Gos- 
pels it is referred to as a hope, the 
Fourth Gospel refers to it as an experi- 
ence- Regarding this change Dr. 
Denney remarks: "The most important 
thing about the second advent in the 
New Testament is that in its dated and 
spectacular form it disappears. The 
last of our Gospels, which is ascribed 
not only by uniform Christian tradition 
but by its own unequivocal testimony, to 
the disciple whom Jesus loved, has 
71 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

nothing to say of it. It was written 
when the church not only had known, 
but, in this great spirit at least, had out- 
lived all embarrassments about the de- 
lay of the advent. The eschatological 
hopes of the early Gospels are not 
simply omitted by John; they are re- 
placed. Instead of the apocalyptic dis- 
courses of Jesus, as at the close of Mat- 
thew and Mark, we have the intimate 
discourses of the upper room. Instead 
of the coming of the Son of man on 
the clouds of heaven, we have the 
coming of the Spirit." For this change 
no satisfactory reason can be given save 
that the events described in the eschat- 
ological discourses of the synoptical 
Gospels had passed into history, Jesus 
having returned and become a living 
reality in the hearts of his people, and 
an unseen, recreative force in the life 
of the world. 

For the transfer from the outward 
and palpable to the inward and spirit- 
ual, Jesus sought beforehand to prepare 
72 



TESTIMONY 

his disciples. This is the evident pur- 
pose of such utterances as the following: 
"I will not leave you desolate, I come 
unto you. Yet a little while, and the 
world beholdeth me no more, but ye 
behold me; because I live ye shall 
live also" (John 14. 18, 19). "Let not 
your heart be troubled, neither let it be 
fearful. Ye heard how I said to you, I 
go away, and I come unto you. If ye 
loved me, ye would have rejoiced, be- 
cause I go unto the Father" (John 14. 
27, 28). "If a man love me, he will 
keep my word ; and my Father will love 
him, and we will come unto him, and 
make our abode with him" (John 14. 
23). "Ye therefore now have sorrow; 
but I will see you again, and your heart 
shall rejoice, and your joy no man tak- 
eth away from you" (John 16. 22) . In 
these words the Lord distinctly prom- 
ises to answer the hopes he had awak- 
ened in another way from that which is 
palpable to the senses. His coming was 
to be spiritual. The three marks by 
73 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

which it was to be distinguished were 
"omnipresence, inwardness, and per- 
manence." It was to carry its own evi- 
dence that "the Eternal Christ, who 
had passed into the unseen, is still pres- 
ent to his people as truly as when he 
dwelt among them in the flesh" (E. F. 
Scott). And may we not venture the 
forecast that now that the great cata- 
clysm of war is over, we shall pass 
from the apocalyptic experience of syn- 
optists to the deeper inner experience of 
the Fourth Gospel, and that the Lord, 
who has been coming in the clouds, with 
thunder and lightning, will come again 
in the sunshine, with a voice of gentle 
stillness? And in that happier day, in 
this age of fulfillment, as we rejoice in 
the presence of a Christ who has re- 
turned, and who is seeking to make his 
home in our hearts, and to incarnate 
himself in the life of the world, let us not 
forget that we are still to wait for his 
manifestation in the future; joining 
with all his people in the prayer, "Come, 
74 



TESTIMONY 

Lord Jesus" — a prayer that voices the 
continual longing of the heart for the 
coming One who can dry our tears, heal 
the hurt of our hearts, overthrow the 
kingdom of evil, and bring in the uni- 
versal kingdom of righteousness and 
peace. 



75 



PART II 

IMPLICATIONS AND 
APPLICATIONS 



IMPLICATIONS AND 
APPLICATIONS 

From the foregoing study of the 
New Testament teaching concerning 
the second advent we deduce the fol- 
lowing conclusions : 

1. That Christ Having Returned, Ac- 
cording to Promise, Is Now Here in All 
the Fullness of His Redeeming Power 
— here to heal, to comfort, and to save. 
Therefore the object of Christian hope 
is no longer the coming of a Christ who 
is absent, but the manifestation in kingly- 
power and glory of a Christ who is pres- 
ent; for one who is with us always can- 
not by any possibility be conceived of as 
coming, except in the sense that some 
clearer outshining of his presence may 
yet be given. And for that we are 
eagerly to look; blending into one the 
new watchword of this "age of the pres- 
79 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

ence," "The Lord is come," and the old 
watchword of the early church, "The 
Lord cometh," the two being by no 
means exclusive the one of the other. 

It is a pathetic thing when the fact of 
Christ's real presence is practically de- 
nied and the lament is heard : 

"Jesus, my All, to heaven is gone, 
He whom I fixed my hopes upon"; 

as if he were there and not here, and all 
that can be done is to wait patiently for 
his return. Those who think and speak 
thus of him are mistaken. He can be 
here and there at the same time ; within 
the veil interceding for us, and down 
here in the thick of the struggle "work- 
ing with us." What is needed by many 
Christians is a larger Christ, a Christ 
who because he is divine is everywhere 
present. 

Jesus taught us to pray to our Father 

in heaven; but when we think of our 

Father as in heaven, does that exclude 

the possibility of his being with us here 

80 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

on the earth? By no means. Heaven is 
his throne, earth his footstool. He is as 
much in heaven as he is on earth, as 
much on earth as he is in heaven. With 
an infinite being, space is obliterated. 
A divine Father must needs be an omni- 
present Father, and a divine Christ an 
omnipresent Christ. The main objec- 
tion, therefore, to the idea of a corporeal 
coming of Christ as the only one pos- 
sible is that it overlooks the doctrine of 
his proper divinity. 

Those who in this Christian age are 
still looking for a local and visible com- 
ing of Christ are in the same mental 
attitude as the Jews at the time of the 
first advent, who persisted in looking 
for a Messiah who had actually come. 
Their Messiah stood among them, but 
they knew him not, just as to-day the 
Christ, whom many regard as absent, is 
standing by their side, yet they know it 
not. Alas, the pity of it! 

2. That the Real and Abiding Pres- 
ence of Christ Is the Culminating Fact 
81 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

in the Doctrine of the Second Coming. 
Parousia means "presence," and 
nothing else. A distinct event in the 
past, it is also something continuous 
throughout all time. "It is not," as Dr. 
David Smith correctly remarks, "a re- 
mote contingency, but an ever-present 
reality, not complete, but begun," some- 
thing into the enjoyment of which we 
are now to enter. 

The picture of the second advent as 
it is presented in the New Testament in 
its entirety is that of the approach of 
one who is at a distance. He draws 
near, and still nearer; at length he ar- 
rives, and is permanently present. In 
the first stage of the divine approach the 
word used is erchomai, as in the text, 
"My Lord delay eth his coming" (Luke 
12. 45). In the final stage the word 
used is parousia, which always means 
"presence," or "being alongside," as in 
the marginal readings of the following 
texts: "What shall be the sign of thy 
presence?" (Matt. 24. 3) ; "Be patient 
82 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

therefore, brethren, until the presence 
of the Lord" (Jas. 5. 7). "The power 
and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ" 
(2 Pet. 1. 16) . "When is the promise of 
his presence?" (2 Pet. 3. 4). The 
same transition from "coming" to "pres- 
ence" took place in the experience of the 
disciples ; so that Dr. Jowett has the best 
of reasons for saying that "the habitual 
thought of the first Christians was not 
so much a coming as a presence." And 
it is in this final faith that the Christian 
world ought now to stand. To the pres- 
ence of Christ, Christian experience 
testifies. Many know that the Lord is 
here, for the good reason that they have 
met him, and communed with him. He 
has been their abiding companion 
throughout the years. They have taken 
home to their hearts his promise; "Lo, I 
am with you always, even unto the con- 
summation of the age" (margin) ; and 
they have reasoned that if he was with 
his people down to the end of the Jewish 
age, he will be with them to the end of 
83 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

every succeeding age. Instead of 
mourning over an absent Christ, they 
listen with palpitating hearts to the 
words, "I will not leave you desolate: 
I come unto you. Yet a little while, 
and the world beholdeth me no more; 
but ye behold me : because I live, ye shall 
live also" (John 14. 18, 19). In the 
fact of his presence as Lord and Ruler 
of his church they ever rejoice, basing 
their faith upon the declaration, "Where 
two or three are gathered together in 
my name, there am I in the midst of 
them" (Matt. 18.20). 

3. That Christ Is Personally Present, 
and Not Representatively Merely. It 
is not the whole truth to say that he is 
present in the Holy Spirit, for his pres- 
ence is just as real as that of the Holy 
Spirit, and is much more in evidence, in- 
asmuch as it is the special province of 
the Holy Spirit to reveal him to us. 

The superficial remark so often 
heard, that the second coming of Christ 
and the coming of the Holy Spirit are 
84 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

one, shows how confused are the prevail- 
ing ideas regarding the relation existing 
between Christ and the Holy Spirit. 
The Holy Spirit is the revealer of Christ 
to men. He takes the things of Christ 
and interprets them to us. In his com- 
ing the coming of Christ is realized. 
The one accompanied the other, the 
coming of the Spirit being the means by 
which the spiritual coming of Christ was 
made real in consciousness and effective 
in character. In purpose and aim the 
two comings are referred to in the 
Fourth Gospel interchangeably; but 
while identical in purpose and aim, they 
differ as an agent differs from a prin- 
cipal, a revealer from a revelation, and 
one who is sent from one who sends him. 
As Christ the divine Logos, or Word, 
is the revelatory side of the Godhead, 
the Holy Spirit, "the giver of life," is 
the operative side. The one is God in 
manifestation, the other is God in ac- 
tion; the point at which they unite is in 
their joint effort to bring salvation to 
85 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

the souls of men. They are spoken of 
as two Comforters or Advocates, stand- 
ing by the side of man, and uniting 
forces in maintaining his cause. Their 
work is one and inseparable. Hence in 
every future coming of Christ into his 
rightful place of world-sovereignty the 
Holy Spirit will have a part. Any fresh 
outpouring of the Spirit will mean a 
new grip by Christ upon the hearts of 
men, or increase of his power over men, 
a fuller recognition of his authority as 
the Lord of the conscience and as the 
true monarch of men. It will mean, in 
short, a real coming of Christ. 

4. That Christ Is Spiritually Present, 
and Not Merely Present "in Spirit." 
These two positions are radically differ- 
ent. To say that Christ is present with 
us in spirit, as we might be present with 
some friend at a distance, is to fall short 
of the truth. He is actually with us in 
his spiritual presence — just as he was 
with Nathanael when he met him under 
the fig tree's shade. 
86 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

That his spiritual presence can be 
just as real and personal as his bodily 
presence ; that his revelation to faith can 
be just as real and personal as his 
revelation to the senses, is one of the 
things which those who are stuck in the 
mire of literalism are slow to learn. 
But when we get to the bottom of it, 
personality is a spiritual rather than a 
bodily quality. • The body is not the true 
and abiding person, but only the chang- 
ing organism in which he is expressed, 
and through which he acts. What the 
instrument upon which he plays is to the 
musician, that is the body to the spirit. 
Bodies change; spirits maintain their 
identity. 

The form under which Jesus may ap* 
pear to us in the future is, after all, a 
secondary matter. The truth that 
brings comfort is that the Lord in whom 
we trust will remain unchanged through 
all the changes in his outward manifes- 
tation ; and that whatever disclosures of 
his wonderful personality may await us 
87 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

in the future, it will be the same Jesus of 
gospel story and of personal experience 
that will come to us in whatever guise he 
may appear. 

5. That Any Future Approach of 
Christ to Man Must Be Upon the Plane 
which he Now Occupies. And that 
plane is undoubtedly the spiritual one. 

Were he to come into the physical 
world to meet men on the physical plane 
once more, then, as a matter of course, 
he would come again in the physical 
body in which he tabernacled when on 
earth. This is the view which most pre- 
millenarians hold. Against it reason re- 
volts, because it contravenes the prin- 
ciple of development inherent in the 
very nature of things, and explicitly laid 
down in the words of Scripture, "that 
is not first which is spiritual, but that 
which is natural; then that which is spir- 
itual'' (1 Cor. 15. 46). 

There are others who contend that the 
body in which Jesus is to reappear is his 
spiritual, or post-resurrection, body, in 
88 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

which he ascended. Support for that 
view has been sought in the theory of 
Luther concerning the ubiquity of 
Christ's spiritual body. But a body of 
any kind must necessarily occupy lim- 
ited space, although we can imagine 
Christ's spiritual body as almost 
ubiquitous, and as being able to mani- 
fest itself at London one moment, and 
at New York the next, and also to make 
itself visible or invisible at will. Still, 
it would be limited in its power of mani- 
festation, besides being perceptible to 
those only who are possessed of spiritual 
vision. Furthermore, it would be upon 
a different plane from that which we 
mortals now occupy, and hence would 
fail to bring us into the most perfect 
relation with our Lord. 

To put the matter as succinctly as \J 
possible : Christ is now in heaven in his 
spiritual body, he is present on earth in 
his divine nature; there he is visible, 
here he is invisible; there he is an object 
of sight, here he is an object of faith. 
89 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

When we pass out of this earth-life we 
go from his veiled to his unveiled pres- 
ence. And since we pass out not un- 
clothed, but clothed upon with our house 
which is from heaven, we meet him on 
his own plane. Spiritual body with 
spiritual body meet in perfect accord. 
With our new power of spiritual vision 
we see him as he is, and, changed by 
glorifying grace, resemble him we see. 

Being with Christ, and seeing him 
as he is within the sphere of complete 
manifestation, constitutes the experi- 
ence in which the original hope of the 
parousia finds its higher fulfillment; 
for that was the very essence of the early 
Messianic hope. Into this definite ex- 
pectation Christian faith has perma- 
nently crystallized, as in the last words 
of Tennyson: 

"I hope to see my Pilot face to face 
When I have crost the bar." 

Or as in the dramatic words of Brown- 
ing: 

90 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

"O Saul, it shall be 
A Face like my face that receives thee. A Man 

like to me, 
Thou shalt love, and be loved by forever. 

A Hand like this hand 
Shall throw open the gate of new life to thee. 

See the Christ stand!" 

Utterances like these, which might be 
multiplied indefinitely, show how trust- 
ingly the parting promise of our Lord, 
"I come again, and will receive you unto 
myself, that where I am, there ye may 
be also" (John 14. 4), has been ac- 
cepted. In this aspect of his coming, at 
least, we all are agreed. 

6. That the Christ Is Now Here Car- 
rying to Completion the Work He Be- 
gan in the Days of His Flesh. One of 
the main objections to the premillena- 
rian view is that it undervalues the ac- 
tivity of Christ from "the day in which 
he was received up," and centers all its 
hopes upon what he is to do in the 
future. It cheapens the efficiency of his 
atoning sacrifice, making it a failure in 
91 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

the accomplishment of the end which it 
was designed to serve. Despairing of 
the salvation of the world through the 
operation of moral forces, it expects it 
to come through some outward display 
of power and glory. In this it is un- 
evangelical, for, as it has been aptly 
said, "The cross means nothing unless it 
be reliance upon spiritual forces as 
against physical" (J. W. Buckham). 

But the cross is no failure. It is 
through all time the power of God unto 
salvation. What it can do for one soul 
it can do for a world of sinners. In the 
book of Revelation Christ as the slain 
Lamb is represented as going forth con- 
quering and to conquer. What the book 
says over and over again is that "this 
present Christ is to prevail completely 
by his cross. Everywhere we hear the 
prophecy of the speedy victory" (J. A. 
Geissinger). 

Silently and secretly Christ is work- 
ing out his saving purpose. He himself 
compares his kingdom to leaven, which 
92 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

works in the dough from particle to par- 
ticle until the whole lump is leavened; 
and to the mustard seed, which from 
a small beginning grows into a spread- 
ing tree, taking on external form, and 
expressing itself in human laws, cus- 
toms, and institutions. His kingdom is 
in this world, but it is not of it. It 
does not come with outward pomp 
and show, and may be unrecognized 
except by those whose eyes have been 
anointed to perceive the working of 
spiritual forces. 

While the age-long struggle between 
good and evil continues, Christ does not 
stay in a distant heaven, allowing evil to 
go on unchecked, until there is a great 
catastrophe, after which he will inter- 
fere. He is ever at work. Of this re- 
demptive activity there can be no end 
until its object has been obtained, for he 
must needs keep on working until the 
fruit of his earthly sacrifice has been 
reaped and the travail of his soul has 
been satisfied. 

93 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

7. That the Saving Power of the 
Hidden Christ Is Being Increasingly 
Displayed. The question is often 
raised, Is the world growing better or 
worse? The answer is, Both, Its 
lights are brighter, its shadows are 
deeper; the struggle within it of con- 
tending forces grows more intense. Yet 
in spite of the tendency of things to slip 
back after they have been put right, 
necessitating the doing over again the 
work of reform, no one can deny that 
substantial progress has been made. 
The world has been compared to an in- 
verted arch bending downward to the 
coming of Christ, then taking an up- 
ward curve which it never altogether 
loses. 

One of the most pitiful examples of 
the way in which a text may be twisted 
from its true meaning to bolster up a 
false theory concerning the present-day 
drift of things is furnished in the use 
made of our Lord's question: "When 
the Son of man cometh, shall he find 
94 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

faith on the earth?" (Luke 18. 8.) 
The assumption that this text implies a 
practical fading out of faith before the 
end of the Christian age is perfectly- 
groundless. In using these words Jesus 
was not thinking of the end of the Chris- 
tian age at all, but of the end of the 
Jewish age, which was near at hand, and 
he asks: "In view of the fearful perse- 
cutions about to break upon the infant 
church, will my people weather the 
storm? When the Son of man returns 
will he find them loyal to the faith?" 
He has just assured them that when 
they cried to him out of the depths of 
their trouble he would "avenge them 
speedily" ; then he adds, "Nevertheless, 
when I come will I find you staunch and 
true ?" A very different thing from say- 
ing that after his gospel had been in 
operation for many generations he 
would come into a world in which faith 
had become well-nigh extinct. A 
greater travesty upon Christ's words, 
and a greater slight upon the value of 
95 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

his age-long work, can hardly be im- 
agined. 

The man is blind who does not see in 
the present-day quickening of the social 
conscience, and in the evident endeavor 
of religion to find social expression, 
signs of the progressive coming of 
Christ. More and more his spirit is 
dominating our social life. In every 
movement of social progress he plays 
the major part. It was his nail-pierced 
hand that struck the shackles from four 
million American slaves. It is his hand 
that is breaking in pieces like a potter's 
vessel the colossal iniquity of the liquor 
traffic. It is his hand that has smitten 
into the dust the brutal, boastful, God- 
defying power of Germany. In the 
fierce struggle for democracy which 
is now in progress it is the prevalence 
of his spirit that will lead to the actu- 
alization of brotherhood, of which de- 
mocracy is but the political counter- 
part. Every moral gain which the 
war will bring will mean the coming 
96 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

of Christ into a place of greater power. 
His name will be above every name. 

One thing which can be set down as 
beyond dispute is that in any future 
coming of Christ spiritual forces will 
be supreme. To bring his coming down 
to the level of that of an earthly poten- 
tate, and to fix the place of his residence 
in some earthly city, is to change the 
nature of his conquering power from 
moral to physical, and to strip him of 
all the spiritual grandeur that the world 
has been wont to associate with his 
name. But not in that way will he show 
himself — of that we may be sure. Glori- 
ous things are spoken of him. His 
second coming was something more than 
a fulfillment of prophecy ; it was in itself 
the prophecy of better things to come, 
for he always works upon an enlarging 
scale. What he does in one age is a fore- 
cast of better things to be done in the 
next. With him it is always true that 
"the best is yet to be." 

Because Christ is at work a moral aim 
97 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

is discernible in every political, social, 
and industrial revolt, and a worth-while 
moral end in every movement for human 
betterment. We have no reason to fear 
the issue with omnipotent love upon the 
throne. Startling things, staggering to 
faith, will happen in the future, as they 
are happening to-day; but with every 
crisis a new upward process will begin. 
Through every revolution will come a 
new evolution ; through catastrophe will 
come conversion; through judgment 
will come salvation. 

8. That the Presence of the Indwell- 
ing Christ Is to Be Increasingly Mani- 
fested. But in what ways, who can tell? 
When Saint John at the beginning of 
his book of Revelation declared, "Every 
eye shall see him, and they that pierced 
him ; and all the tribes of the earth shall 
mourn over him" (1. 7), he must have 
been speaking of his outward, physical 
manifestation in the hyperbole of an 
Oriental, or of such an unveiling of his 
hidden glory as would convince behold- 
98 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

ers of his transcendent claims, and bring 
them in penitence to his feet. But the 
universal visualizing of himself upon the 
physical plane would be a sheer impos- 
sibility. And there is no more pathetic 
illustration of the puerility to which un- 
restrained literalism may descend than 
the attempts of premillenarian expos- 
itors to show how the pictorical and sym- 
bolical words of John may be explained 
after a physical fashion. 

To see the Lord in his moral majesty 
needs anointed eyes. The carnal eye 
can see only carnal things. That which 
is spiritual is spiritually discerned. The 
words spoken by Jesus to his disciples 
on the eve of his departure, "A little 
while, and ye behold me no more; and 
again a little while, and ye shall see me" 
(John 16. 16), evidently mean, "A 
little while, and ye behold me no more 
with your bodily eyes ; and again a little 
while, and ye shall see me with the eyes 
of the soul." To the same effect are 
the words, "Yet a little while, and the 
99 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

world beholdeth me no more; but ye 
behold me" (John 14. 19). How that 
precious promise of his immediate un- 
veiling to his own could ever have come 
to be interpreted to mean that he would 
come again many centuries hence, in a 
way visible to the senses, passes com- 
prehension. 

When we see a friend outwardly we 
do not see his real self. The multitude 
that surged after Jesus in his triumphal 
entry into Jerusalem, asking, "Who is 
this?" would be duplicated again were 
he to reappear in the streets of Jeru- 
salem to-day. But there were those who 
saw Him — the real, divine Christ. The 
aged Simeon saw him, when he saw the 
world's Redeemer in the babe in Mary's 
arms; the penitent thief saw him when 
he saw the King of all kingdoms in the 
thorn-crowned man crucified by his side. 
Others saw him, when they saw the 
Lord of Glory in the one who was de- 
spised and rejected of men. Nothing 
short of the revelation of his moral 
100 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

majesty will bring about that consum- 
mation when "to him every knee shall 
bow," and every tongue confess his 
lordship to the glory of God the 
Father; and nothing short of that will 
be a real coming. 

9. That the Unseen Christ Is the 
World's True King. The hope of the 
first advent was expressed in the 
words, "Blessed is the King that 
cometh in the name of the Lord" (Luke 
19. 38) ; but it was as a temporal king 
that the Jewish people expected him to 
come. With wild hosannas they hailed 
him, exclaiming, "Blessed is he that 
cometh in the name of the Lord, even 
the King of Israel" (John 12. 13). 
This idea of an earthly king the early 
Christians transferred to his second ad- 
vent; and from it they had great diffi- 
culty in getting away. A king who was 
to rule in righteousness, whose only 
sword was to be the sword of truth; 
whose only scepter was to be the scep- 
ter of love, was an ideal so different 
101 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

from the one which they had been 
taught to cherish that it was hardly 
possible to grasp it at first; but grad- 
ually it percolated into their minds, 
and when fully realized they came un- 
der its spell of liberating and inspiring 
influence. 

The thought that Christ's kingship is 
to take on this outward form has led to 
the conclusion that he is still uncrowned, 
and that his reign is being postponed to 
some distant day when he shall return 
through the cloven skies. But such a 
conception is utterly foreign to all that 
is taught concerning the nature of 
Christ's parousia. He is now a king — 
a true king, "the King of kings and 
Lord of lords." His royal rule is now 
going on. No one wields greater power 
than he. By virtue of the royalty of 
his nature, by virtue of the claims of his 
cross, he is wielding supreme power. 
All authority has been given unto him 
in heaven and on earth ; and although his 
rule is not always obeyed, nor always 
102 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

acknowledged, it is not on that account 
any the less real. 

"The invisible King" for whom men 
like H. G. Wells are blindly and pas- 
sionately searching, is to be found in 
Christ. To see him as "the King 
eternal, immortal, and invisible," "the 
everlasting king," "the king of ages," 
is to make the great discovery. It is to 
find a competent Ruler upon the throne 
of the universe. It is to see in the 
mighty religious, social, and political 
upheavals now taking place "the Son of 
man coming to his kingdom." It is to 
feel sure of the future whatever may 
betide, because at the center of the 
world's complex life is seen "in the 
midst of the throne a Lamb standing, 
as it had been slain" (Rev. 5. 6) — the 
symbol of that mediatorial reign now in 
progress, of which there shall be no end. 

10. That the Second Coming of 

Christ Marks an Advance from the 

Outward to the Spiritual, and from the 

Limited to the Universal, in Religion. 

103 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

And in these two directions all religious 
progress moves. It is here that we see 
the spiritual bearings of the destruction 
of Jerusalem. So long as Jerusalem 
stood, a fatal arrest was put upon the 
expanding spirit of Christianity. Jeru- 
salem was the center of a national reli- 
gion, narrow, intense, and intolerant. 
Its worship was largely a thing of out- 
ward forms, and gendered to bondage. 
With the new faith it was in irreconcil- 
able antagonism; and not until it was 
overthrown, and plowed under, could 
the seed of a spiritual and universal re- 
ligion have a chance to grow. 

This the early Christians did not ap- 
preciate at first. They fondly imagined 
that they could put the new wine into 
the old wine-skins ; but by and by they 
saw that to be impossible, and as the 
desolating storm of judgment was seen 
to be rapidly approaching, they began 
to turn their thoughts and hopes from 
the city of their fathers to "the new 
Jerusalem which is from above," speak- 
104 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

ing of it as "the city which is to come" 
(Heb. 13. 14). Thus imperceptibly 
their vision widened, so that when the 
catastrophe came they found themselves 
standing upon distinctively Christian 
ground, freed from the shackles of 
Judaism, and looking upon Christianity 
not as a Jewish sect but as a world-wide 
religion. 

To this broad ground the Master 
brings us when, in answer to the Samar- 
itan woman, he says: "The hour cometh 
when neither in this mountain, nor in 
Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. 
. . . God is spirit [margin], and they 
that worship him must worship in spirit 
and truth" (John 4. 21, 24). This 
"hour" of spiritual enfranchisement 
which Jesus says, "cometh and now is," 
indicates what took place when the view 
of his parousia, among his followers, 
changed from a corporal to a spiritual 
presence, and from a presence local and 
limited to one universal and perpetual. 

In this present day we find the same 
105 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

movement still going on towards the 
spiritual and the universal. A religion 
of forms is at a discount; grace is recog- 
nized to be mightier than law; the 
authority of the spirit is felt to be more 
binding than any authority externally 
imposed. Religion is breaking through 
all outward restrictions. From its na- 
tional form it is passing to something 
wider ; becoming the vital bond that is to 
unite the scattered members of human- 
ity into a great, and growing, and or- 
ganic whole. 

11. That the Second Coming of 
Christ Has Given a New Meaning and 
Value to the Lord's Supper. When 
Paul said, "As often as ye eat this 
bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim 
the Lord's death till he come" (1 Cor. 
11. 26), he was thinking of Christ's im- 
mediate coming, and not of his coming 
at the end of the world. After his com- 
ing the point of emphasis in this ordi- 
nance was to be changed from commem- 
oration to communion. No longer was 
106 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

it to be merely the memorial of a dead 
Christ, but the means of fellowship with 
a living Christ. While keeping the 
memory of the Christ of Calvary green, 
and setting forth his death as the ground 
of human redemption, it was to stand 
for the fact of his "Real Presence," and 
was to be a festival of lif e rather than of 
death. As such it was to be an occasion 
of abounding joy. So long as the bride- 
groom was absent the children of the 
bridegroom might mourn and fast ; but 
the Master himself asks, "How can the 
sons of the bridechamber fast, while the 
bridegroom is with them?" (Mark 2. 
15.) The bridegroom having returned, 
the church, his bride, is to arise from the 
dust, put on her beautiful garments, and 
shine in the reflected glory of her Lord. 
12. That by his Second Coming Jesus 
Has Brought to His People the Full- 
ness of His Redemption. Stupendous 
changes were brought into the unseen 
realm by that event. Regarding these 
little has been revealed; but among the 
107 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

scattered hints that have been given 
there is perhaps none more significant 
than that which speaks of Jesus going 
up on high "leading captivity captive, " 
bringing deliverance to the pre-Chris- 
tian saints, and opening the kingdom of 
heaven to all believers. When he re- 
turned it was to convert what was be- 
fore a hazy hope into a blessed certainty. 
Since he conquered death and entered 
into his place of sovereignty in the un- 
seen realm the whole aspect of death has 
been changed from one of gloom to one 
of glory. No longer is it a going down, 
or a going out, but a going up. "Blessed 
are the dead who die in the Lord from 
henceforth." Why from henceforth? 
Because from the time of his conquest 
over death it is to those "who die in the 
Lord" the immediate entrance into 
glory. The Old Testament saints "died 
in faith, not having received the prom- 
ises, but having seen them and greeted 
them from afar" (Heb. 11. 13). The 
New Testament saints have all the 
108 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

promises of the past fulfilled in their ex- 
perience ; and all that heaven can hold in 
reserve for them is the continuation and 
intensification of what is already begun. 
13. That His Presence is the Pledge 
of the Final Triumph of Righteousness. 
To him the eyes of men are turned as 
never before. To the consciousness of 
his presence the world is slowly awaken- 
ing. In those days of agony through 
which we are passing the great fact of 
his presence is being burned into the 
souls of men. To him they are instinc- 
tively looking. The soldier wounded in 
battle fixes upon him his dying gaze ; the 
mourning mother leans upon his ever- 
lasting arm; the inmates of the deso- 
lated home welcome him as the bringer 
of comfort. Because he is in the midst 
we can look upon a wrecked world in 
hope and not in despair; and where 
others can see only ruins we can see the 
rising walls of the better city yet to be. 
Great things are in store for a world 
that has Christ in it, for there is no end 
109 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

to what he can accomplish. His arm is 
not shortened so it cannot save. Pro- 
gress may be hastened or delayed; the 
tide may ebb or flow, but through all 
changes the redeeming work of Christ 
will go on until its end has been attained. 
It is the hope of the final triumph of 
righteousness that nerves our arm in the 
fight. We know that we are not en- 
gaged in a losing cause. On the other 
hand, the belief in an absentee and im- 
potent Christ cannot fail to cut the roots 
of the present endeavor. It is freely ad- 
mitted that many premillenarians are 
active Christian workers, but the logical 
effect of their doctrine is the slackening 
of effort in behalf of human betterment. 
If things are to go from bad to worse 
till Christ comes to turn the tide, why 
should anyone delay his coming? A 
recent writer of this school makes this 
confession. "For a number of years I 
took an active part in political and other 
organizations, having for their object 
reform movements, and was consider- 
110 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

ably exercised about making the world 
better. My views, however, in this 
matter have undergone a radical change. 
I now understand that this world that 
crucified our Lord is rejected of God, 
and it cannot be pleasing to him; that 
Christians are not commanded to en- 
gage in the work of reforming it ; that it 
cannot be redeemed, but is rushing to its 
doom ; that, on the other hand, our duty 
toward the citizens of the world is to 
preach the gospel to them, and to assist 
in calling out of the world a people for 
his name. And this duty seems all the 
more urgent in these last days, because 
the Christians are now especially called 
upon to separate themselves from the 
world and its institutions, which being 
under condemnation, are even now suf- 
fering judgment — a judgment which is 
to be more severe as the time passes." 
From this frank avowal we see how it is 
that intense evangelistic zeal may be 
connected with indifference to social re- 
form ; the aim of Christian effort not be- 
lli 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

ing to save the world — for the world is 
doomed — but simply to save something 
from the wreck. 

To support this false position, refer- 
ence is made to the text which speaks of 
the gospel as being preached "for a wit- 
ness" before the end of the age. A wit- 
ness to what? To God's infinite grace 
of course. But to say that it is not to 
be preached for conversion is a travesty 
on Christ's words. 

The validity of a doctrine that leads 
to an attitude so utterly unchristian is 
discredited on the very face of it. One 
can hardly imagine a more sad perver- 
sion of Christ's teaching than the em- 
ploying of it to keep his people out of 
sympathetic touch with any enterprise 
which has for its object the up Uf ting of 
humanity; and that seeks to give a 
higher value to his future activity by 
discounting the worth of what he is do- 
ing to-day. It stands to reason that a 
correct interpretation of his words will 
give a heightened sense of the value of 
112 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

the human interests which have claimed 
his attention since he vanished from 
sight, and will bring his people into ac- 
tive cooperation with him in everything 
that tends to their realization. 

Besides, the whole tenor of Christ's 
teaching shows that his expectation of 
the coming of his kingdom is founded 
upon the faithfulness of his followers. 
If this is not so, he has certainly been 
greatly misunderstood, and the prayers 
and labors of his people throughout the 
Christian centuries have been sadly mis- 
directed. It has always been assumed 
that when he told his disciples to pray 
"Thy kingdom come," he led them to 
expect its immediate and progressive 
coming, rather than to look down 
through the long vista of the years for 
its coming as a distant event ; that he en- 
couraged them to look for immediate re- 
sults, and to cherish the belief that every 
little effort they might put forth was 
giving a helpful touch to the coming of 
the kingdom. And even those to whom 
113 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

the kingdom was a thing of the future, 
entirely independent of their action, 
have generally, with blessed inconsist- 
ency, worked and prayed as if they had 
something to do with its coming, thus 
proving themselves to be better than 
their beliefs. The very fact that we are 
kept here, and not translated at once 
after conversion, shows that the Lord is 
not yet done with us, and that he has 
worth-while work for us to do ; and the 
very fact that Christ is here shows that 
he is not yet done with the world for 
which he made the great sacrifice. The 
presence of one so wonderful holds in it 
the possibility of endless surprises, and 
of "a larger spiritual and social fulfill- 
ment" than we have ever dreamed of. 
His greatest wonders are held in re- 
serve. Those whose faith is set on him 
have every reason to hope hard, and to 
cherish an optimistic outlook for the 
future. And if in these days of storm 
and stress, so like the days preceding the 
second advent, the church as a whole is 
114 



IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 

still unready to receive him, he turns to 
the individual soul, saying, "Behold, I 
stand at the door and knock : if any man 
hear my voice and open the door, I will 
come in to him, and will sup with him, 
and he with me" (Rev, 3. 20) . Within 
"the low lent el" of the heart that wel- 
comes him is a place of peace what time 
the tempest rages. And, after all, a 
right attitude toward Christ is the es- 
sential thing. For what boots it what 
theory we may hold in regard to his 
future program if he is not to us a 
present reality? "Make sure of his ad- 
vent into the heart," says Sir W. Rob- 
ertson Nicoll, "then let him come again 
as he will, and when he will. Were he 
to appear visibly to-morrow in the sky, 
if he is not in my heart, he will be 
nothing to me — but my doom. But if 
he is in my heart, I have all that I need. 
Whatever else he may some day bring 
with him will be well and good." "He 
cannot come as a thief to me," says Dr. 
Alexander Whyte, "if I love his appear- 
115 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

ing. If you love me, you cannot come 
to me too soon." Wise then will we be, 
if instead of seeking to break open the 
seven-sealed mysteries of the future, we 
refuse even to crystallize the blessed 
hope that sings in our hearts into a hard, 
unyielding dogma, and bending our- 
selves to our allotted tasks, which noth- 
ing should be allowed to interrupt, are 
content to say with Susan Coolidge : 

"I may not know, my God; no hand revealeth 
Thy counsel wise; 
Along the path a deepening shadow stealeth; 

No voice replies 
To all my questioning thoughts the time to 
tell, 

And it is well: 

Let us keep on abiding and unfearing 

Thy will always; 
Through a long century's ripening fruition, 

Or a short day's; 
Thou canst not come too soon; and I can wait 

If thou come late." 



116 



PART III 

A CATECHISM ON THE 

SECOND COMING OF 

CHRIST 



A CATECHISM ON THE 

SECOND COMING OF 

CHRIST 

1. How did Christ come the first time? 
He was "born of a woman" (Gal. 

4. 4). "The Word became flesh, and 
dwelt among us" (John 1. 14) . 

2. What did he say about his going 
away? 

"Yet a little while am I with you, and 
I go unto him that sent me" (John 
7.33). 

3. What did he say about his return? 
"I will not leave you desolate: I come 

unto you. Yet a little while, and the 
world beholdeth me no more ; but ye be- 
hold me" (John 14. 18). 

4. How were the disciples to see him 
upon his return? With bodily or with 
spiritual eyes? 

Undoubtedly in the latter way. 
119 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

Those disciples who with their bodily- 
eyes saw him go up never saw him again 
save with the eyes of their spirits. 

5. How did Paul see him after his re- 
turn? 

He saw him miraculously, in his glori- 
fied body, so that as an eye-witness he 
might be qualified for the apostleship. 
By all others he was seen by faith, and 
not by sight. But the fact that Paul 
could say, "Have I not seen Jesus our 
Lord?" is conclusive proof that he was 
here to be seen. 

6. Is there any ground for the idea 
that the coming of Christ was to be out- 
ward and physical? 

NTone whatever. The only Christ the 
early Christians knew after his resurrec- 
tion was a spiritual Christ. They said : 
"Though we have known Christ after 
the flesh, yet now we know him so no 
more" (2 Cor. 5. 16). And a spiritual 
Christ is the only one the world has 
known for well-nigh twenty centuries — 
the only one that it knows to-day. 
120 



A CATECHISM 

7. What is the difference between 
Christ's first and second comings? 

By his first coming he was incarnated 
in a human body ; by his second coming 
he is being incarnated in the whole body 
of humanity. For the idea of a fleshly 
re-incarnation there is not a single shred 
of support in holy writ, 

8. What did Jesus mean when he an- 
nounced that he would come again in 
"this generation"? 

Precisely what he said. By this gen- 
eration he undoubtedly meant his own 
generation; that is, the generation then 
existing. To get from the word "gen- 
eration" the idea of "race," or "nation," 
one must put it upon the rack, and ex- 
tort from it a meaning which it was 
never intended to convey. Those who 
are still looking for Christ to come are 
nineteen hundred years too late. 

9. Did he come according to prom- 
ise? 

How can we doubt it? The word of 
glad assurance with which the New 
121 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

Testament closes, "Yea: I come 
quickly," has been kept ; and the prayer, 
"Amen: come, Lord Jesus," has been 
answered. 

10. What is the inference to be drawn 
from the fact of his coming? 

It is that he is here. Cold comfort 
would it have given to these sorrowing 
disciples to have been told what Christ 
would do for them centuries hence. 
They needed a present Saviour; as all 
men in every age do. 

11. Is the old watchword of the early 
church, Maranatha, "The Lord com- 
eth" applicable to the present? 

How can it be if the words of Christ 
are true: "Lo I am with you always." 
Our watchword ought now to be, "The 
Lord is come." Gladder words than 
these cannot be imagined. Let us shout 
them out that all the world may 
hear. 

12. Is it correct to identify the second 
coming of Christ with the coming of the 
Holy Spirit? 



A CATECHISM 

Assuredly not. The coming of the 
Holy Spirit was contemporaneous with 
the second coming of Christ, but not 
identical with it. The Holy Spirit is the 
agent by whom the presence of Christ 
was to be made real in human expe- 
rience. 

13. Was there anything uncertain 
as to the time of Christ's second com- 
ing? 

The certain thing about it was its im- 
mediacy, the uncertain thing was its 
exact date. "Of that day and hour," 
said Jesus, "knoweth no one, not even 
the angels in heaven, neither the Son, 
but the Father only" (Matt. 24. 36). 
It is not for us "to know times and 
seasons, which the Father hath set 
within his own authority" (Acts 1. 7). 

In all divine visitations there is al- 
ways an element of surprise. Madness 
lies in the way of date-fixing. 

14. Why has the future been veiled? 
Lest what we see might dazzle or 

paralyze us. "The last day is hidden," 
123 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

remarks Saint Augustine, "that every 
other day may be regarded." 

15. When did the early Christians ex- 
pect Christ to return? 

There cannot be the shadow of a 
shade of doubt that they expected him to 
come soon. They spoke of his coming 
as "near," as "at hand," as "at the 
door," as "about to come to pass." 
Language could not possibly be more 
explicit. 

16. What mistake did the disciples 
make? 

They made no mistake about the time 
of his coming; what they mistook was 
the nature of it. They looked for him 
to come through the open skies instead 
of looking for him to come into their 
open hearts. This is the very mistake 
which many to-day are making. 

17. What was the effect upon them of 
this mistake? 

It paralyzed their spiritual energy, 
and cut the nerve of Christian endeavor. 
Paul had to rebuke the Thessalonians 
124 



A CATECHISM 

for gazing up into heaven and neglect- 
ing their daily duties. 

18. Did the disciples correct their mis- 
take? 

Happily, they did. Gradually they 
passed over from the idea of a visible to 
that of an invisible coming, and settled 
down in the sweet assurance of his real 
and abiding presence, so that Peter said 
of them: "Whom not having seen ye 
love; on whom, though now ye see him 
not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly 
with joy unspeakable and full of glory" 
(I Pet. 1. 8). 

19. What do we learn about the spir- 
itual development of Saint Paul at this 
point? 

At the first he expected Christ to 
come to him; afterward he had "a desire 
to depart and be with Christ," for, said 
he, "it is very far better" (Phil. 1. 23). 
To be with Christ, and to see him as he 
is, was the essence of his advent hope, 
and this he retained through every 
change of thought and experience. 
125 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

20. At what crisis in the history of the 
world did Christ say he would come — 
at "the end of the world"? 

No ! a thousand times, No I That mis- 
translation of his words is responsible 
for much of the confusion that exists on 
the subject. He promised to come, not 
at the end of the world, but at "the end 
of the age/' namely, at the end of the 
Jewish age — the age then current. Did 
he come then ? Most assuredly ! 

21. Is it correct to speak of the de- 
struction of Jerusalem as the second 
coming of Christ? 

Far from it. It was the outward sign 
of two great spiritual realities, namely, 
"the end of the age," and the beginning 
of the "Presence." That is to say, it 
was the sign that the Jewish age had 
ended, and that Christ had come to be 
forever present. With the destruction 
of Jerusalem the whole system of Juda- 
ism, which stood in the way of Christ's 
spiritual kingdom, was swept away, thus 
allowing Christ to come to his own, 
126 



A CATECHISM 

22. How are we to interpret the figur- 
ative language employed in describing 
the signs which were to accompany the 
second coming of Christ? 

Just as we interpret all other apoca- 
lyptic imagery. Take, for example, 
what is said about the destruction of 
Egypt and Babylon: "All the host of 
heaven shall be dissolved and the heav- 
ens shall be rolled together as a scroll, 
and all their host shall fade away, as the 
leaf f adeth from off the vine, and as a 
falling leaf from the fig tree" (Isa. 
34. 4) ; and you have a key to the under- 
standing of what is said regarding the 
destruction of Jerusalem. 

23. Why do we not find any reference 
in the Fourth Gospel to the signs which 
were to accompany the second advent? 

For the good reason that before that 
book was written the event which the 
signs heralded had itself taken place. 

24. Did any of the apostles live until 
after the Lord's return? 

Yes, John did. When the Master 
127 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

upon a certain occasion was telling 
Peter what the future held in store for 
him, Peter, pointing to John, asked: 
"What of this man?" Jesus answered: 
"If I will that he tarry till I come, what 
is that to thee?" (John 21. 22), plainly 
intimating that John was to be alive at 
the time of the second advent; which 
was actually the case, 

25. What is the final word expressive 
of the second coming of Christ? 

It is the word parousia; which means 
"being present." This is the reading in 
the margin, and it is the only meaning 
the word will bear. The One who was 
coming arrived, and is now present. 

The parousia has changed the second 
coming of Christ from a hope into an 
experience. 

26. What form should the advent 
hope now assume? 

Not the coming of a Christ who is ab- 
sent, but the manifestation of a Christ 
who is present. This is the form sug- 
gested in the words: "Looking for the 
128 



A CATECHISM 

blessed hope, and appearing of the glory 
of the great God and our Saviour Jesus 
Christ" (Titus 2. 13). 

27. How is Christ to manifest him- 
self? 

In various ways. Inwardly to faith; 
outwardly in the world's institutional 
life ; completely, in the vision that awaits 
his own within the veil. 

28. In what ordinance of the Church 
is the real presence of Christ specially 
symbolized? 

In the Lord's Supper. The early 
Christians supposed that their need of 
this ordinance would be brief. They 
expected to celebrate it till Christ came, 
when they were to be caught up to meet 
him in the air; but as that did not hap- 
pen they continued to celebrate it in an- 
other way, making it a festival of com- 
munion rather than a festival of com- 
memoration. This should be its chief 
significance to-day. At his own table 
Christ is host, and we are guests. 

29. Upon which are we to put the em- 

129 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

phasis in the present day? Upon the 
Coming or upon the Presence? 

Without doubt upon the latter. It is 
with the Presence that we have now to 
do. What the future will bring we can 
at the best only conjecture. The main 
thing will be missed if we allow our 
minds to be turned away from the un- 
seen Friend and Helper who is ever at 
our side, and whose grace is sufficient for 
our every need. 

30. How are we to cultivate the sense 
of Chrisfs presence? 

By affirming it; and by "practicing" 
it. 

31. What if we have no realizing sense 
of it? 

Then should we fall back on the fact 
itself. The Lord is here, whatever we 
may think about it, or feel about it. To 
rest in this fact is to have our sorrow 
turned into joy, our weakness into 
strength, our night into day. 

32. What evidence have we that 
Christ has come? 

130 



A CATECHISM 

The evidence is twofold. First there 
is the evidence of experience. Hosts of 
seeking souls have found him. Then 
there is the evidence which comes from 
the changes which have been wrought in 
the world — changes that cannot be ex- 
plained apart from him. The evidence 
that he has come is the same as that by 
which the sun proves that it has risen. 

33. How far does the Presence of 
Christ extend? 

He is present everywhere : in heaven 
and on earth. To a Dime Being omni- 
presence belongs. He can be in every 
sphere at the same time. Hence he can 
be to all his creatures a present help. 

34. When will the judgment work of 
Christ begin? 

It has begun already. "Now is the 
judgment of this world." The judg- 
ment of Christ is continuous. It is a 
process ending in a crisis. Every age 
has its harvest at the end. 

35. When is Christ to be King? 

He is King now. He says: "All 
131 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

authority has been given unto me in 
heaven and on earth" (Matt. 28. 18). 
Upon his return he received for himself 
a kingdom, and entered upon his kingly 
reign (Luke 19. 12). At his second 
coming he was to be seen "coming in 
his kingdom" (Matt. 16. 28). 

It is therefore ours to acclaim his 
sovereignty and to 

"Bring forth the royal diadem 
And crown him Lord of all." 

36. Of what is his kingly presence the 
pledge? 

Of the triumph of his kingdom. 
"For he must reign, till he hath put all 
his enemies under his feet" (1 Cor. 15. 
25 ) . "Henceforth shall the Son of man 
be seated at the right hand of the power 
of God" (Luke 22. 69) . That place of 
power he now occupies. 

37. How is his kingdom to come? 
Secretly and openly. "The kingdom 

of God cometh not with observation: 

neither shall they say, Lo here! or, 

132 



A CATECHISM 

There ! For lo, the kingdom of God is 
within you" — or "in the midst of you" 
(margin) (Luke 17. 20, 21). "Behold 
he cometh with clouds" (Rev. 1. 17). 

38. What did Jesus say about his com- 
ing to his people at death? 

"I come again, and will receive you 
unto myself; that where I am, there ye 
may be also" (John 14. 3) . This is not 
the second coming, but it is a real com- 
ing nevertheless. 

39. What are the good things about 
premillenarianism ? 

( 1 ) Its Christward look. It fixes the 
thought of men upon the right object. 
(2) Its expectant attitude. It expects 
great things from Christ. Its program 
of the future may be a mistaken one, but 
its sublime confidence in Christ's ability 
to carry it through is something to be 
commended. 

40. What are the objectionable things 
about it? 

( 1 ) Its pessimism. It looks upon the 
world for which Christ died as going 
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THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

from bad to worse, and as tottering to 
its fall. (2) It destroys the social hopes 
by which all workers for the world's 
weal have been inspired. ( 3 ) It renders 
meaningless the prayer which the 
Master has put into our lips: "Thy 
kingdom come. Thy will be done, as 
in heaven, so on earth." (4) It puts the 
emphasis upon the idea of waiting for 
the Lord, instead of working with him. 
(5) It expects Christ to do it all, instead 
of having him fulfill his purpose, as 
he has always done, by securing the co- 
operation of his people. (6) It substi- 
tutes physical force for moral power — 
a thing which Jesus always refused to 
do. (7) It renders the life-long passion 
of our Lord, which culminated in the 
cross, of no avail in accomplishing the 
world's redemption; so that instead of 
seeing the travail of his soul and be- 
ing satisfied he has to resort to other 
and inferior means for the vanquish- 
ment of evil and the establishing of his 
kingdom. 

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A CATECHISM 

41. What is the natural effect of a liv- 
ing faith in the Lord's presence? 

It is sanctifying, inspiring, trans- 
forming. He came, "to be glorified in 
his saints" (2 Thess. 1. 10), that is, 
glorified in the transfiguration of their 
lives. If the hope of Christ's coming 
has an inspiring and ennobling effect, 
how much more the consciousness of his 
presence? 

42. What is its social effect? 

The destruction of evil. "The lawless 
one," who in the apostolic days was al- 
ready at work, and who in our day is 
rampant, he "shall slay with the breath 
of his mouth, and bring to nought by the 
manifestation of his coming" (2 Thess. 
2.8). 

43. What should be our attitude 
toward the ultimate issue of events in 
these eventful days through which we 
are now passing? 

It should be that of watchful waiting, 
of active participation, of glad expect- 
ancy, and of supreme confidence. 
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THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

Better answer to that question cannot 
anywhere be found than that given by 
his celestial visitor to Daniel when he 
was sorely perplexed concerning the 
mysteries of the future: "Go thou thy 
way till the end be ; for thou shalt rest, 
and stand in thy lot, at the end of the 
days" (Dan. 12. 13). If things are in 
Christ's hands how can they fail to work 
out right? 



136 



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